French franc

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The franc (represented by the franc sign ₣ or more commonly just F) is a former currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It was re-introduced (in decimal form) in 1795 and remained the national currency until the introduction of the euro in 1999 for accounting purposes, with coins and banknotes issued in 2002.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Before the French Revolution 1.2 French Revolution 1.3 Latin Monetary Union 1.4 World War I 1.5 World War II 1.6 The new franc 1.7 European Monetary Union 2 Andorran franc (ADF) 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Before the French Revolution

The franc was introduced by King John II in 1360. Its name comes from the inscription reading Johannes Dei Gratia Francorum Rex ("Jean by the grace of God King of the French") and its value was set as one livre tournois (a money of account). Francs were later minted under Charles V, Henri III and Henri IV.

Louis XIII of France stopped minting the franc in 1641 (replacing it with the Écu and Louis d'Or), but use of the name "franc" continued in accounting as a synonym for the livre tournois.

[edit] French Revolution

The franc was established as the national currency by the French Revolutionary Convention in 1795 as a decimal unit (1 franc = 100 centimes) of 4.5 g of fine silver. This was slightly less than the livre of 4.505 g but the franc was set in 1796 at 1.0125 livres (1 livre, 3 deniers), reflecting in part the past minting of sub-standard coins.

In 1803, the "franc germinal" (named after the name of the month in the revolutionary calendar) was established, creating a gold franc containing 9/31 g (290.32 mg) of fine gold. From this point, gold and silver-based units circulated interchangeably on the basis of a 1:15.5 ratio between the values of the two metals (bimetallism). This system continued until 1864, when all silver coins except the 5 franc piece were debased from 90% to 83.5% silver without the weights changing.

[edit] Latin Monetary Union

France was a founding member of the Latin Monetary Union (LMU) in 1865. The common currency was based on the franc germinal, with the name franc already being used in Switzerland and Belgium, whilst other countries used their own names for the currency.

In 1873, the LMU went over to a purely gold standard of 1 franc = 9/31 g gold.

[edit] World War I

The outbreak of World War I caused France to leave the gold standard of the LMU. The war severely undermined the franc's strength, as war expenditure, inflation and postwar reconstruction, financed partly through the printing of ever more money, reduced the franc's purchasing power by 70% from 1915 to 1920 and a further 43% from 1922 to 1926. After a brief return to the gold standard (1928 to 1936) the currency was allowed to resume its slide, until it was worth in 1959 less than a fortieth of its 1934 value.

Example Coins
Image	Value	Diameter	Weight	Composition	Obverse	Reverse	Minted Year
	50 centimes	?? mm	?? g	??	??	??	1939

[edit] World War II

During the occupation of France, the franc was a satellite currency of the German Reichsmark. The coins were changed, with the words "travail, famille, patrie" (work, family, fatherland) replacing the Republican triad "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité" (Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood) and the symbol of the Vichy regime added.

[edit] The new franc

In January 1960 the French franc was revalued at 100 existing francs. Old franc pieces continued to circulate as centimes (none of which were minted for the first two years), 100 of them making a nouveau franc (the abbreviation NF was used on banknotes for some time). Inflation continued to erode the currency's value but at a greatly reduced rate comparable to other countries so when the euro replaced the franc in January 1, 1999, the new franc was worth less than an eighth of its original value.

Interestingly, after revaluation and the introduction of the new franc, many French people continued using old francs (anciens francs), to describe large sums. For example, lottery prizes were often advertised in amounts of centimes, equivalent to the old franc. This usage continued right up to when franc notes and coins were withdrawn in 2002.

[edit] European Monetary Union

From January 1, 1999, the value exchange rate of the French franc against the euro was set at a fixed parity of 1 EUR=6.55957 FRF. Euro coins and notes replaced it entirely between January 1 and February 17, 2002.

At the time of changeover, the coins in circulation were

• 1 centime (0.152 cent) aluminum, rarely circulated
• 5 centimes (0.762 cent) aluminum-bronze
• 10 centimes (1.52 cent)
• 20 centimes (3.05 cent)
• 50 centimes (7.62 cent) ½ franc nickel
• 1 franc (15.24 cent)
• 2 francs (30.49 cent)
• 5 francs (76.22 cent) nickel clad copper-nickel
• 10 francs (€1.52) bimetallic
• 20 francs (€3.05) trimetallic, rarely circulated
• 100 francs (€15.24) silver commemoratives

Coins were exchangeable until February 17, 2005 [1]

Many new franc denomination types were withdrawn earlier including;

• 5 centime stainless steel
• 50 centime aluminum-bronze
• 5 francs silver
• 10 francs silver
• 10 francs aluminum-bronze
• 10 francs nickel
• 50 francs silver

Banknotes were [2]

• 20 francs (€3.05) : Claude Debussy
• 50 francs (€7.62) : Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• 100 francs (€15.24) : Paul Cézanne
• 200 francs (€30.49) : Gustave Eiffel
• 500 francs (€76.22) : Pierre and Marie Curie

Banknotes of the current series as of euro changeover may be exchanged with the French central bank or services like GFC until February 17, 2012. Most older series are exchangable for 10 years from date of withdrawal.

[edit] Andorran franc (ADF)

The Andorran franc was a 1:1 peg to the french franc. Unlike Monaco, Andorra was not formal currency union with France. Consequently, no Andorran coins were minted nor notes printed.

[edit] See also

• Livre tournois
• French euro coins

[edit] External links

• Overview of French franc from the BBC

Preceded by: Livre	French currency 1360-1641	Succeeded by: Livre Écu Louis d'Or
Preceded by: Livre, Écu, Louis d'Or, Kronenthaler (?-1795, Austrian Netherlands) ? (?-1918 Saarland) ? (?-1954 Saarland) ? (CFA-zone) ? (CFP-zone)	French currency 1795-1999[1] 1795-1815 (Southern Netherlands) 1918-1935 (Saarland) 1954-1957 (Saarland) ?-1945 (French African colonies) ?-1945 (French Pacific colonies)	Succeeded by: Euro Dutch guilder (1815-1832, Southern Netherlands) German Reichsmark (1935-?, Saarland) German mark (1957-2002, Saarland) CFA franc (1945-present, CFA-zone) CFP franc (1945-present, CFP-zone)

1. ^ 1999 by law, 2002 de facto.

Francs
Current	Burundian franc | CFA franc | CFP franc | Comorian franc | Congolese franc | Djiboutian franc | Guinean franc | Rwandan franc | Swiss franc | UIC franc
Defunct	Algerian franc | Belgian franc | Cambodian franc | French Camerounian franc | French franc | Katangan franc | Gold-Franc | Luxembourgish franc | Malagasy franc | Malian franc | Monegasque franc | Moroccan franc | New Hebrides franc | Saar franc | Tunisian franc | Westphalian Frank
This box: view • talk • edit

Pre-euro and other EU currencies

Eurozone Austrian Schilling | Belgian franc | Dutch gulden | Finnish mark | French franc | German Mark | Greek drachma | Irish pound | Italian lira | Luxembourgish franc | Monegasque franc | Portuguese escudo | San Marinese lira | Spanish peseta | Vatican lira ERM II Cypriot pound | Danish krone | Estonian kroon | Latvian lats | Lithuanian litas | Maltese lira | Slovak koruna | Slovenian tolar Other EU British pound | Czech koruna | Gibraltar pound | Hungarian forint | Polish złoty | Swedish krona This box: view • talk • edit