" Fluctuat nec mergitur is a meaning Latin expression "He is beaten by streams, but does not sink." 1, converses about Paris, capital of France.
The currency accompanies the ship represented on the blazon of Paris, symbol of the powerful corporation of Nautes (Traders of the water) in the antique time of her ville2. She could understand as: "Paris, in spite of the time and the adversities of all kinds, is always indestructible".
It appears on tokens from the end of the XVIth century, but is for the city, until the Revolution, only a currency among of autres2. She is made official by an order of November 24th, 1853 of the baron Haussmann, then the prefect of the Seine3.