Card money was in use in New France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Official money cards were embossed with a fleur-de-lis and the signatures of the intendant, governor, and treasurer. Private cards would also use the fleur-de-lis and the signature of its debtor. Card money was generally issued, at least initially, in emergency situations when minted currency was in low supply, however over time "playing cards" became more popular and the standard tender. An estimated two million livres in card money is thought to have circulated prior to the British take over of New France territory in the 1760s.