France - P-129c - 500 French Francs - 1953 dated Foreign Paper Money

Pick #129c, 500 Francs. Front and back shown. The franc, often referred to as the French franc (FF), served as the currency of France. From 1360 to 1641, it denoted coins valued at 1 livre tournois and continued to be used colloquially to represent this monetary amount. The currency was reintroduced in a decimal format in 1795. Following two centuries marked by inflation, a redenomination occurred in 1960, establishing that each new franc (NF) was equivalent to 100 old francs. The NF designation persisted for several years before the currency reverted to being known simply as the franc. Nevertheless, many residents in France continued to express prices for particularly costly items in terms of the old franc (which corresponded to the new centime), even after the euro was introduced for coins and banknotes in 2002. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the French franc was widely recognized as an international reserve currency. The conversion from francs to euros took place between 1998 and 2002 at a fixed rate of 6.55957 francs for every 1 euro.