Remarkable French banknotes from the 19th century

A selection well worth the paper it’s written on!

Following the failure of the post-revolutionary assignats and the mandats territoriaux in France, paper money had fallen out of favor. In the aftermath of the Coup of 18 Brumaire, where the Directory was overthrown and replaced with the French Consulate, the country’s political situation found a new footing in a turbulent economic climate.

At the initiative of bankers, the Bank of France was finally founded in 1800, issuing its first banknotes in the process. Although the banknotes were not a success at first, they began to become a permanent way of life by the middle of the century.

Here is a carefully selected collection of the first “modern” banknotes, often rare, issued by France over the course of the 19th century.

View the collection

Painting: “Coffret” by the AI program Midjourney (2023) (All rights reserved)