France - ATM Test
With the advent of the Automatic Teller Machine in 1985, printers had to provide sample banknotes to be used in testing the ability of the machine to correctly handle them. There are several series of these sample notes from Banque de France, printed in sizes to match current circulating banknotes.
Sower and rising Sun at left, Marianne Silhouette at right
- Printer: Société IBM
- 1971-1981
- 172 x 92mm
- Uniface. Size of 200f Montesquieu
- Watermark: Horizontal band
- Roty, L-O INV
Berlioz
- Printer: BdF
- 1972-1985
- 172 x 92mm
Athena at Left
Series A: Black "ÉCHANTILLON" overprint in watermark area
- Printer: BdF
- 1985-1990
- 150 x 80mm
- Size of 50f Quentin de la Tour
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
- Printer: BdF
- 1985-1990
- 160 x 85mm
- Size of 100f Delacroix
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
- Printer: BdF
- 1985-1990
- 172 x 92mm
- Intaglio
- Size of 200f Montesquieu
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
Series D: Diagonal black "ÉCHANTILLON B" overprint on back
- Printer: BdF
- 1985-1990
- 172 x 90mm
- Size of 200f Montesquieu
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
Series F: Blue "ÉCHANTILLON" overprint, "ECHANTILLON 1250", three black dots, two rectangular grids
- Printer: BdF
- 1985-1990
- 150 x 80mm
- Size of 50f Quentin de la Tour
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
- Printer: BdF
- 1985-1990
- 160 x 85mm
- Size of 100f Delacroix
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
- Printer: BdF
- 1985-1990
- 172 x 90mm
- Size of 200f Montesquieu
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
Series H: Blue "ÉCHANTILLON", two diagonal black lines across face
- Printer: BdF
- 1985-1990
- 160 x 85mm
- Size of 100f Delacroix
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
Series I: Blue "ÉCHANTILLON", typical BdF control and serial numbers
- Printer: BdF
- 1985-1990
- 150 x 80mm
- Size of 50f Quentin de la Tour
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
Athena at Right
Series A: "Échantillon" twice horizontally, code numbers lower left
- Printer: BdF
- 1990-1995
- 140 x 75mm
- #10025, Size of 20f Debussy
- Watermark: Antelope and ??
- Laurent, S. INV
- Printer: BdF
- 1990-1995
- 150 x 80mm
- #10054, Size of 50f Quentin De La Tour
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
- Printer: BdF
- 1990-1995
- 160 x 85mm
- #10103, Size of 100f Delacroix
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
- Printer: BdF
- 1990-1995
- 172 x 92mm
- #10202, Size of 200f Montesquieu
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
- Printer: BdF
- 1990-1995
- 180 x 97mm
- #10501, Size of 500f Pascal
- Watermark: Bust of Zeus
- Laurent, S. INV
Series B: "Échantillon" written vertically, code letters and barcode corresponding to W.A.S. country codes
- Printer: BdF
- 1990-1995
- 140 x 80mm
- Code D (Mali), Size of 500f West African States Hydroelectric Dam and Tractor note
- Laurent, S. INV
- Printer: BdF
- 1990-1995
- 140 x 80mm
- Code H (Niger), Size of 500f West African States Hydroelectric Dam and Tractor note
- Laurent, S. INV
Maurice Ravel - Franc size
Series A
- Printer: BdF
- 1992-2001
- 123 x 80mm
- Intaglio
- Size of 50f Saint Exupéry
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Printer: BdF
- 1992-2001
- 133 x 80mm
- Size of 100f Cézanne
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Printer: BdF
- 1992-2001
- 143 x 80mm
- Size of 200f Eiffel
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Printer: BdF
- 1992-2001
- 153 x 80mm
- Size of 500f Curie
- Watermark: Clock Face
Maurice Ravel - Euro size
Series A: 5-20€. The printed image is the same for all notes, but cutting marks delimit the area for the 5 and 10€ sizes. The large bars on Series A, and squares the Series B notes are actually gold foil that appears black in scans.
- Printer: BdF
- 2001-
- 120 x 62mm
- Strap: Gold foil
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Like DIS-06-A-01 with small black rectangles right/left on face
- Printer: BdF
- 2001-
- 120 x 62mm
- Strap: Gold foil
- Watermark: None
- Like DIS-06-A-01 with large roman numeral 'V'
- Printer: BdF
- 2001-
- 127 x 67mm
- Gold foil strip. Size of 10 Euro€
- Strap: Gold foil
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Printer: BdF
- 2001-
- 133 x 72mm
- Gold foil strip. Size of 20€
- Strap: Gold foil
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Like DIS-06-A-05 with no black rectangles on face
- Printer: BdF
- 2001-
- 133 x 72mm
- Gold foil strip. Size of 20€
- Strap: Gold foil
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Like DIS-06-A-05 with two black rectangles on left and right of face
- Printer: BdF
- 2001-
- 133 x 72mm
- Gold foil strip. Size of 20€
- Strap: Gold foil
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Like DIS-06-A-06 with no black rectangles on face
Series B: 50-500€. The printed image is the same size for all notes, but cutting marks delimit the area for the 50, 100 and 200€ sizes.
- Printer: BdF
- 2001-
- 140 x 77mm
- Size of 50€
- Strap: Gold foil block with rounded corners
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Printer: BdF
- 2001-
- 140 x 77mm
- Size of 50€
- Strap: Gold foil block with square corners
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Like DIS-06-B-01 but foil block has square corners
- Printer: BdF
- 2001-
- 147 x 82mm
- Size of 100€
- Strap: Gold foil block with rounded corners
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Printer: BdF
- 2001-
- 147 x 82mm
- Gold foil block. Size of 100€
- Strap: Gold foil block with rounded corners
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Like DIS-06-B-02 but foil block has square corners
- Printer: BdF
- 2001-
- 153 x 82mm
- Size of 200€
- Foil block with rounded corners
- Strap: Gold foil block with rounded corners
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Printer: BdF
- 2001-
- 153 x 82mm
- Gold foil block. Size of 200€
- Strap: Gold foil block with rounded corners
- Watermark: Clock Face
- Like DIS-06-B-04 but foil block has square corners and black rectangles are spaced apart