Part of my job is to keep siloxanes out of a complex, multi-step, multi-sub-contracted manufacturing process. A supplier change that should have been a simple affair has cost us several kilobucks in analyses in the past months. I hate the stuff.
Historically, a "brique" used to be a million of anciens Francs (old Francs), then converted to 10 000 nouveaux Francs (new Francs) in 1960.
Since the switch to euro, I think the most commonly accepted value of one "brique" is (unofficially) 10 000 €, but the uncertainty makes it basically useless.