February 18 2012 marked last day to convert Francs to Euros.
As of today they are no longer eligible for exchange at banks in France and the grand Franc first minted some 650 years ago is no more.
The franc was formally established as the monetary unit of France in 1999.
There were queues of people at central banks in France wanting to do last minute swaps to Euros. It was said many had been hoarding bags of Francs under their beds hoping to return to the Franc at some point. The French Government estimated that some €100m worth of Francs would go over the bank counters on the final day but would still leave around €400m left in drawers, cupboards and elsewhere – simply lost or forgotten or perhaps kept as souvenirs.
