Occupied Wartime Notes

1941 France 50 Francs. I guess the man is wearing some sort of fancy French hat while he's writing a letter.

Here's a run of Burmese Japanese Occupation notes. I just got this 1942 1/4 Rupee note. The 'B' in the serial number stands for Burma.

1942 Burma Japan Occupation 1/2 Rupee Note UNC

Just missing the 5 Rupee Note in my collection, here's the 1942-44 Burma Japan Occupation 10 Rupee Note

A lot of interesting notes, @Diverdude.


In a wider sense these notes (5, 10 and 50 francs) can be seen as Occupied Wartime Notes, but strictly speaking they are not. They were issued by Banque de France, which was operating in Vichy France, the unoccupied zone in southern France. The German occupation forces had nothing to do with these notes. The 10 francs note continued to be emitted until 1949 and the 5 francs note was not demonetized unitl 1963.

But, they are interesting and have artistic qualities, so let's not be too strict.

The 5 francs note has motifs based on works by the French painter Clement Serveau. The front shows a Pyrenean shepherd, the back a lady from the town of Agen in traditional clothing.

The 10 francs note is based on works by the painter Lucien Jonas, showing a miner and a female farmer. This note is clearly inspired by the motto of Vichy France: Travail, Famille, Patrie ("Work, Family, Homeland").

The 50 francs note too is by Lucien Jonas. The front shows Jacques Cœur, the back a shepherdess.

Jacques Cœur was the resourceful 15th century merchant who built an immense fortune, became master of the French Royal Mint and extremely influential. His motto is shown at the bottom of the note (in old French): A ceurs vaillans riens impossible ("To a valiant heart, nothing is impossible"). Cœur is French for heart; note the heart shaped water mark area. In the end he fell victim of his own success - too many jealous and indebted influential persons conspired and had him imprisoned on false charges and his property confiscated.

Nice examples, Diverdude!

Very nice!

Excellent!