₣10 — Ten Francs
The artwork
Front: Hector Berlioz, named beneath his own likeness, shown twice over: the composer's head at right, brooding under a mass of hair, and at left his hands raised with the baton at a downbeat. Behind stands the great organ of the Église de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris, with an orchestra of strings and brass crowding the right edge. "DIX FRANCS" in red block capitals at top left, "BANQUE DE FRANCE" across the foot.
Back: The same face again, larger and set against Rome: the Villa Medici, where Berlioz stayed as a Prix de Rome laureate, with tiled roofs and a campanile stepping up behind him, and the dome of St Peter's small in the distance. A guitar neck and a harp frame rise at the right. The counterfeiting warning under article 139 of the penal code sits in a red panel at bottom left, beside the watermark window.
In circulation
The Berlioz ten francs was issued from 1972 and printed through the latter part of the decade; this one carries the date 2 January 1976. The ten-franc coin introduced in 1974 gradually took over the denomination, and the note was withdrawn during the 1980s. No further ten-franc note followed it.
Details
- CurrencyFranc (₣)
- DenominationTen Francs
- Collectedon the France journeys, 1991–2019
- IssuerBanque de France
- SeriesType 1972 "Berlioz", dated A.2-1-1976.A.
- SignatureThree: Le Secrétaire Général, Le Contrôleur Général, Le Caissier Général
- WatermarkHead of Hector Berlioz, in the blank panel
- Dimensions140 × 75 mm