The Bank of Poland was created in 1924, together with the zloty, equal to a Freh
gold franc.
Before the ECU, ICF used something called the International Union of Railways franc; before that, it was the Swiss
gold franc.
France imposed a debt of 150m
gold francs on Haiti in return for recognition of the colony's independence, following a successful slave revolt in 1791.
In 1825, France promised the Haitian government that it would not invade Haiti again if it paid $90 million in
gold francs (approximately $22 billion in today's currency) for restitution to France and French slave owners for lost "property.
The amount for Haiti was later lowered to 90 million
gold francs.
By the Treaty of Frankfurt on May 10th, 1871, France lost Alsace (except Belfort) and the German part of Lorraine--including the fortresses of Metz and Strasbourg--and had to pay an indemnity of five billion
gold francs.
Such was the gravity of the situation, that the French government offered a reward of 300,000
gold francs, but the solution proved elusive, and divided opinion between the ' Sulphuristes' and the ' Americainistes'.
One of the Haitian president's pet projects was restitution from France of 90 million
gold francs that France made Haiti pay for its independence.
In 1838, Haiti was forced to pay a ransom of 90 million
gold francs to its French colonial masters to break the economic and diplomatic embargo that France had placed on the new republic after refusing to recognise its independence.
But nobody has beaten the record of 19th-century gambler Charles Wells who cleaned the house out of a million
gold francs and inspired the music hall song The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo.
