Small and large numbers of the Treasury

Part 1: all the references from VF.01 to VF.15!

Articles by Yann-Noël Hénon - on July 22, 2020

The Treasury do its number!

This is the first time that we have published the full list of smaller and larger numbers regarding all references and variants for Treasury notes. There has long been a craze among collectors for the smaller numbers of the Bank of France and to a lesser extent for the larger numbers. This interest is still in its infancy on the Treasury notes, in part because some issues are not fully identified. But with the publication of this extreme score, the numbers are refined (1) and open the way to a new area of collection. The prices of these notes are still very low, so you should take advantage of them without delay ...

The list will be published in several parts and in the order of the numbers in the Fayette-Dessal catalog (2). Part One includes banknotes for the following issues:

Issues from the Treasury to the Armies (1917-1919),
Issues from the Central Treasury for Corsica (1943-1945),
Issues from the Central Treasury, English prints (1945),
Issue from the British Military Authority (BMA) for France (1944).

Treasury to the Armies

50 centimes Treasury Armies Type 1917

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.01 or Pick: # M01). Letter A to Q. Issue: 999,999 copies. 1410 banknotes in inventory.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.01.01	Letter A	A 0,003,938
VF.01.17	Letter Q		Q 0,991,596

50 centimes Treasury Armies Type 1919

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.02 or Pick: # M04). Letter R to Z, A1 and B1 (Series C1 has still not been found). Issue: 999,999 copies. 559 banknotes in inventory.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.02.01	Letter R	R 0,037,550
VF.01.11	Letter B1		B1 0,029,760

1 franc Treasury Armies Type 1917

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.03 or Pick: # M02). Letter A to M and M2. Issue: 999,999 copies. 821 banknotes in inventory.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.03.01	Letter A	A 0,000,768
VF.03.14	Letter M2		M2 0,320,470

1 franc Treasury Armies Type 1919

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.04 or Pick: # M05). Letter N to Z, A2 to F2 and M2. Issue: 999,999 copies. 692 banknotes in inventory.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.04.01	Letter N	N 0,004,932
VF.04.20	Letter M2		M2 0,952,647

2 francs Treasury Armies Type 1917

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.05 or Pick: # M03). Letter A to C. Issue: 999,999 copies. 303 banknotes in inventory. Very rare in series C.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.05.01	Letter A	A 0,001,035
VF.05.03	Letter C		C 0,050,034

Issues from the Central Treasury for Corsica

100 francs Marianne Type 1943

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.06, Schwan-Boling: # 116 or Pick: # 105). Letter PG, PH, PK, PL, PM and PN. Issue: 5,999,995 copies. 511 banknotes in inventory. Rare in letter PH.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.06.01a	Letter PG	PG 000,781
VF.06.01g	Letter PN		PN 884,803

1000 francs Phœnix Type 1943 Reserve

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.07, Schwan-Boling: # 133 or Pick: # 108). Letter TB and TC. Not issued. 5 banknotes in inventory including 3 specimens. Very rare.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.07.01	Letter TB	TB 000,001
VF.07.01	Letter TC		TC 373,007

5000 francs Liberty Type 1943 Not issued

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.08, Schwan-Boling: # 135 or Pick: # 110). Not issued. Only 1 copy known in inventory! Very rare.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.08.01	Lettre VA	VA 008,012 / 008,012	VA 008,012 / 008,012

500 francs Algeria overprinted "Treasury" Type 1943

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.09, Schwan-Boling: # 117 or Pick: # 111). Issue: 391,439 copies. 48 banknotes in inventory. Rare banknote.

Variants	Date	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.09.01	08-10-1943	W.175-077
VF.09.01	26-10-1943		Z.190-959

1000 francs Algeria overprinted "Treasury" Type 1943

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.10, Schwan-Boling: # 118 or Pick: # 112). Issue: 2,343,808 copies. 124 banknotes in inventory.

Variants	Date	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.10.01	30-04-1942	J.403-402
VF.10.02	02-11-1942		Z.730-978

5000 francs Algeria overprinted "Treasury" Type 1943

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: #NA, Schwan-Boling: # 119 or Pick: # 113). Issue: 844,014 copies but all destroyed! 1 copy in inventory. Very rare.

Variants	Date	Smaller No.	Larger No.
Pick : #113	03-02-1942	O.28-519	O.28-519

Issues from the Central Treasury, English prints

500 francs Marianne Type 1945 (Letter L)

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.11.01, Schwan-Boling: # 131a or Pick: # 106a). Series 01L to 99L. Issue: unknown but probably 100,000,000 copies. 764 banknotes in inventory.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.11.01	01L	098700
VF.11.01	99L		986186

500 francs Marianne Type 1945 (Letter M)

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.11.02, Schwan-Boling: # 131b or Pick: # 106b). Series 01M to 99M. Issue: unknown but probably 100,000,000 copies. 468 banknotes in inventory.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.11.02	01M	162858
VF.11.02	97M		531567

500 francs Marianne Type 1945 (Letter N)

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.11.03, Schwan-Boling: # 131c or Pick: # 106c). Series 01N to 33N. Issue: unknown. 41 banknotes in inventory. Rare.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.11.03	01N	639732
VF.11.03	33N		210959

500 francs Marianne Type 1945 (Letter Z)

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.11.04, Schwan-Boling: # 131d or Pick: # 106d). 01Z series. Issue: unknown. 4 banknotes in inventory. Very rare.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.11.04	01Z	546486	772336

1000 francs Marianne Type 1945 (Letter A)

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.12.01, Schwan-Boling: # 132a or Pick: # 107a). Series 01A to 99A. Issue: unknown but probably 100,000,000 copies. 522 banknotes in inventory.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.12.01	01A	022249
VF.12.01	99A		778713

1000 francs Marianne Type 1945 (Letter B)

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.12.02, Schwan-Boling: # 132b or Pick: # 107b). 01B series. Issue: unknown. 35 banknotes in inventory. Rare note.

Variants	Series	+ petit N°	+ grand N°
VF.12.02	01B	019732	994883

1000 francs Marianne Type 1945 (Letter D)

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.13.01, Schwan-Boling: # 132c or Pick: # 107c). Series 01D to 99D. Issue: unknown but probably 100,000,000 copies. 448 banknotes in inventory.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.13.01	01D	475353
VF.13.01	99D		977826

1000 francs Marianne Type 1945 (Letter E)

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.13.02, Schwan-Boling: # 132d or Pick: # 107d). Series 01E to 99E. Issue: unknown but probably 100,000,000 copies. 352 banknotes in inventory.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.13.02	01E	145009
VF.13.02	99E		468121

1000 francs Marianne Type 1945 (Letter H)

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.13.03, Schwan-Boling: # 132d or Pick: # 107e). 01H and 02H series. Issue: unknown. 22 banknotes in inventory. Very rare.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.13.03	01H	161837
VF.13.03	02H		949629

5000 francs Marianne Type 1945

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.13.01, Schwan-Boling: # 134 or Pick: # 109). Series 02K, 04K, 05K and 08K. Issue: unknown. 7 banknotes in inventory. Very rare.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.14.01	02K	185506
VF.14.01	08K		366001

British Military Authority (BMA)

1 Pound British Military Authority Type 1944

(Ref. Fayette-Dessal: # VF.15.01, Schwan-Boling: # 306d or Pick: # M6c). 39Z Series. Issue: 50 copies for France (probably numbers 39Z 000051 to 39Z 000100). 15 banknotes in inventory. Very rare. See the note in the FBOW website.

Variants	Series	Smaller No.	Larger No.
VF.15.01	39Z	000054	000084

Notes

(1) All the figures come from research compiled and inventoried by the author on his blog "FBOW (French Banknotes Of War)".
(2) "La cote des billets", 2019 edition by MM. Claude Fayette and Jean-Marc Dessal (cf. pages 426 to 443).