Though abolished as a legal coin by Louis XIII in 1641 in favor of the gold louis or ecu, the term franc continued to be used in common parlance for the livre tournois.

French Revolution

The franc was re-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 (theoretically slightly less than the livre of 4.505 g, though the new coin was set in 1796 at 1.0125 livres, reflecting in part the past minting of sub-standard coin).

With the creation of a gold franc in 1803, gold and silver-based units circulated interchangeably on the basis of a 1:15.1 ratio between the values of the two metals (bimetallism).

World War I

World War I severely undermined the French 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 per cent from 1915 to 1920 and a further 43 per cent 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 1936 value.

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 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.

Many French people continued using old francs, anciens francs as a unit; large sums such as lottery prizes were often given in centimes, since these are equivalent to the old franc. This usage continued right up to when franc notes and coins were withdrawn in 2002, with speculation as to whether older people would carry the factor of 100 conversion through to the euro, the scaled-down version being called, naturally, the euro ancien.

From January 1, 1999, the value exchange rate of the French franc against the euro was set at a fix 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

• 5 centimes (.762 Eurocent)
• 10 centimes (1.52 Eurocent)
• 20 centimes (3.05 Eurocent)
• 50 centimes (7.62 Eurocent)
• 1 Franc (15.24 Eurocent)
• 2 Francs (30.49 Eurocent)
• 5 Francs (76.22 Eurocent)
• 10 Francs (€1.52)
• 20 Francs (€3.05)

Coins may be exchanged until February 17, 2005 [1]

Banknotes were [2]

• 20 Francs (€3.05)
• 50 Francs (€7.62)
• 100 Francs (€15.24)
• 200 Francs (€30.49)
• 500 Francs (€76.22)

Banknotes may be exchanged until February 17, 2012

See also

• Livre tournois