50 francs Type 1947 French Treasury

A banknote for the German Occupation Troops (GOT)

The French Treasury Issue was created in 1947 to be used exclusively by French and allied personnel and troops in the territories assigned to France at the end of the Second World War. This issue consists of five notes of 5, 10, 50, 100 and 1000 francs. All these denominations were printed without date and without signature and overprinted in red on the front with the words "French Treasury", "Occupied Territories" and a validity notice "This note is valid only in Occupied Territories". The series was put into circulation between 1947 and 1955 by the "Payrolls of the Treasury for the Occupied Territories".

The 50 Francs Type 1947 French Treasury (Reference: Fayette-Dessal # VF31.1, Pick: # M08 or Schwan-Boling: # 833) is the one we will analyze in detail. At the end of 2015, the inventory for this banknote counted just 400 copies (1). Almost five years later, the score reaches the bar of 700 referenced copies, an average yield of around 5 new notes per month!

One banknote, 3 alphabets, 19 qualities!

The 50 francs Type 1947 is known only in alphabets 1, 2 and 3. The two summary tables below present the 700 copies of the inventory distributed in each of the three alphabets and then for 19 qualities ranging from UNC grade to Poor grade (2):

Always so rare in good quality!

Since the first score of 400 banknotes published in 2015, we see that the number of copies in good quality has changed very little. Finding a banknote from the XF grade will already be a great satisfaction. Beyond this grade, you will have to seize the rare opportunities that will present themselves to you. The few sales offered at cgb.fr in recent years are also quite explicit:

• 2013: one of the two known copies in UNC grade numbered Y.2 47802 sold € 517 (Lot # p26_0341),
• 2017: a copy in AU grade numbered C.1 84529 sold € 608 (Lot 4160332),
• 2020: a specimen on issued note in aUNC grade numbered L.1 19643 sold € 1003 (Lot # 4380297).

The alphabet 1

The 376 banknotes of this alphabet constitute more than half of the known banknotes with 54% of the banknotes referenced ... but only one known banknote in UNC grade ... and RADAR! (FBOW collection):

The smallest and biggest numbers:

• A.1 01631 (in F+ grade sold € 210 at cgb.fr in 2015, Lot # 4030242),
• A.1 05698,
• A.1 07368,
• A.1 08811,
• A.1 14674.

• W. 177531,
• W. 1 80605,
• W. 1 91009,
• W. 1 91750,
• W.1 92823.

The 25 letters have all been found for this alphabet (A to Z). The letter I does not exist.

The alphabet 2

The 274 banknotes in this alphabet make up 39% of the banknotes referenced. 2 notes are known in UNC grade (including that of the FBOW collection below), 3 notes in aUNC grade and a dozen copies between XF and AU grade.

The smallest and biggest numbers:

• A.2 03309,
• A.2 07223,
• A.2 09499,
• A.2 09886,
• A.2 24085.

• W.2 83305,
• W.2 87226,
• W.2 87572,
• W.2 94068,
• W.2 98362.

All the letters of this alphabet have not been found! 5 letters are still missing: G, Q, S, T and U. Please contact us if you have one or more banknotes with one of these letters in collection.

The alphabet 3

This alphabet is the rarest with only 7% of the banknotes referenced, or 50 notes. 3 notes are known in UNC grade (including that of the FBOW collection below), 2 notes in aUNC grade and a dozen copies between XF and AU+ grade.

Only the letters A, D, F and W are known for this alphabet:

• Letter A : 9 copies,
• Letter D : 7 copies,
• Letter F : 33 copies,
• Letter W : 1 copy.

The smallest and biggest numbers:

• A.3 25312,
• A.3 30144,
• A.3 30528
• A.3 31652
• A.3 36830.

• F.3 44809,
• F.3 45153,
• F.3 45957,
• F.3 46061,
• W.3 06924.

Banknotes transformed into "Counterfeit Suez Crisis"!

Many 50-franc notes have sometimes been mutilated to be transformed into 50 francs Type 1956 Suez Crisis! Here is the list to date for all 3 alphabets:

• G.1 64785,
• J.1 44027,
• M.1 15900,
• Y.2 28693.

Notes:

(1) "A very rare banknote to find in UNC grade?" (article in french) by Yann-Noël Hénon on the French Banknotes Of War (FBOW) website, December 2015.

(2) The 700 banknotes of our score did not all pass through our hands. The qualities indicated are those that we noted in the sales histories.

Our Sources

• "La cote des billets", 2019 edition by MM. Claude Fayette and Jean-Marc Dessal (cf. page 459).
• cgb.fr sales archive.
• "frenchbanknotesofwar.com", the blog of Yann-Noël Hénon.