The Allegory — French Franc Art T-Shirt | Specimen & Issue

There was a time when a hundred francs arrived with Agriculture, Commerce, and enough drapery to suggest the bank had retained a theatre company.

The source is the Banque de France’s 100-franc Luc-Olivier Merson design, known as the type of 1906. It entered circulation in 1910 as the bank’s first multicoloured note, after years of work on four-colour printing. Beauty and security were partners in the enterprise: a more intricate picture was also a more difficult thing to counterfeit. On the original, allegorical figures gave work and exchange human form.

Our small chest specimen keeps the denomination and the note’s decorative language. The back lets that language breathe: a seated woman, blue and terracotta folds, wheat, flowers, and the unhurried gravity of classical illustration. This is an interpretation of the source’s world, with room around it for ordinary life.

A useful thing can carry an extravagant imagination. That is one of the discoveries waiting in old money: the business of buying bread once involved passing a small public painting from hand to hand.

SPECIMEN & ISSUE — A Breach in Taste

Real currencies, encountered twice: an adapted archival specimen at the left chest and an original artistic interpretation across the back.

THE SHIRT

Comfort Colors 1717 garment-dyed unisex tee with a relaxed fit and substantial 6.1 oz, 100% ring-spun cotton fabric. Front chest print and large back print. Available in Black, White, Ivory, Pepper, Blue Jean, Sandstone, in sizes S–4XL. Check the size chart for your preferred fit.

CARE

Machine wash cold. Do not bleach. Tumble dry low. Use low heat if ironing; avoid ironing directly over the print. Do not dry clean.

This original artwork was developed by A Breach in Taste using AI-assisted image generation, human creative direction, and human editing.

A Breach in Taste — Ideas, in Shirt Form.

Explore all eight Specimen & Issue designs and their specimen notes →