50 — Fifty Francs
The artwork
Front: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, named and dated 1900–1944 in fine script beside him, set against a world map traced with the airmail routes he flew. A Latécoère biplane crosses the upper margin; below, his own drawing of the Little Prince stands on his small planet among stars and a rose, with the boa that swallowed an elephant in green at the left. "Banque de France" and a large 50 fill the right.
Back: A big open-cockpit biplane of the Aéropostale years, loaded and photographed head-on, banking over orange desert dunes under a mottled painterly sky. A compass rose sits top right, its rays ruled across the field, with the year 1994 beside it. The Little Prince reappears at lower right beneath a yellow star, next to the three signatures and the counterfeiting warning.
In circulation
The Saint-Exupéry 50 francs entered circulation in 1993 as the smallest note of the Banque de France's final franc series, replacing the Quentin de La Tour design. It served until the euro changeover, losing legal tender status in February 2002, when the €5 note took its place.
Details
- CurrencyFranc
- DenominationFifty Francs
- Collectedon the France journeys, 1991–2016
- IssuerBanque de France
- SeriesSaint-Exupéry type, dated 1994; serial H 022937971
- SignatureLe Secrétaire Général, Le Contrôleur Général and Le Caissier Général
- WatermarkPortrait of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- Dimensions123 × 80 mm