Here we have the Franc, but the Swiss Franc, which was not replaced by the euro. Instead both currencies are equally accepted within Switzerland.
However other Francs did fall, namely those of Andorra, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and Monaco.
The most famous of these was the French Franc, which was reportedly first used to pay the ransom of King John II, after he had been captured by the English at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356.
The Belgian Franc began in 1832, the date of their independence from the Netherlands. Before then Belgium having used the Gulden, (a currency closely related to the Dutch Guilder).
The Luxembourg Franc was first issued in 1854, before that they had used the Dutch Guilder, the Belgian Franc, and the Prussian Thaler. It was replaced by the Reichsmark in 1941 when the country came under German occupation, but restored in 1944.
Andorra, amazingly, never had its own currency, it used the Spanish Peseta, the French Franc and the Monagasque Franc, though actually Monaco only had their own Franc in short bursts, starting in 1837 and 1838, and then removed from circulation until 1879; this was taken out of circulation in 1904, and did not return for twenty years. From then on it followed the pattern of being issued, but only for two or three years. It was only in the last years of the 1950s that it lasted for longer, right until 1995/6, and then it was replaced by the euro.
Not sure how many of these cards there were, but we have a little list, supplied by the sender of this card, Mr. Porter. The cards are actually numbered, though it is not very visible, it is bottom right but inside the picture, so it does not show up too clearly. They are untitled though, and you can only tell what the countries are by squinting at the coins shown. So this list, very usefully, gives you the country and a description of the picture.
The cards he knows of so far, therefore, are :
- France - an early motorist with goggles and a car behind
- England - a man with a ship being built behind
- Russia - a man with a knife
- Mexico - a man with a block of stone hanging behind
- Austria - a man blowing glass with furnace behind
- America - a man with a board of levers and gauges
- Switzerland - a man in an apron making chocolate
- Spain - a woman with oranges in her arms
- Norway - a man with a large cooking pot
And if anyone can supply the names of the missing cards, he would be most grateful.