Banknote, Invasion Money, 50 Francs, 1944, 2nd Issue

Genuine WWII 50-francs banknote, printed in 1944.

Quite good overall condition.

'Invasion' money was made up of French banknotes printed in the United States from February to May 1944 by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which is normally responsible for printing US dollars and other official federal government documents, to replace those produced during the German occupation after the Allied landings and the liberation of France. Refused by de Gaulle and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, it circulated little from June to the end of August 1944 in Normandy.

Since they were made in the United States, the paper, ink, material, presentation and format of American dollars were used as the reference. The format of the 2, 5 and 10 francs bills is that of a dollar cut in half.

The term 'billet drapeau' comes from the French flag on the back of the first series (face values of 2, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 francs). A second issue, simply bearing the word 'France', was used in June 1945 for the compulsory exchange of all French banknotes worth 50 francs or more held by GIs.

On June 8,1944, the Provisional Government of the French Republic issued a stern warning to the two governments concerned, recognizing ' recognizes no legal value in vignettes that have been put into circulation without its advice'.

After a period of hesitation, although the AMGOT was not put into practice, the Commissaire de la République François Coulet, present in Normandy from June 14, 1944, was nonetheless confronted with the circulation of Allied currency, which was not well received by the population. He recommended that banks accept it and not put it back into circulation. Then, on June 27 of the same year, General de Gaulle decided to ban the flag banknotes, as soon as he came to power in the Provisional Government of the French Republic. In addition, they competed with Treasury bills printed in London.

Nevertheless, the people of Normandy sought to use flag banknotes as quickly as possible, i.e. by using them to pay taxes -- the Bayeux tax office collected 55,000 AMGOT francs out of 130,000 francs collected).

Although the bills remained in circulation until the end of August 1944, they were not definitively demonetized until late 1947.

Nevertheless, in February 2002, following France's adoption of the eurosystem, the Banque de France's communication department published information note No. 123 concerning the exchange of French franc banknotes and coins for euros: exchange with flag banknotes was possible until January 1, 2004 for banknotes with 'France' on the reverse only -- banknote types with a flag were not exchangeable since June 15, 1945.