Catalog
10 Francs
| Issuer | Caisse d'Escompte de Genève |
|---|---|
| Year | 1856 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Francs |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CAISSE D`ESCOMPTE DE GENÈVE Création du 2 Août 1856 IL SERA PAYÉ À VUE AU PORTEUR dix francs LA LOI PUNIT LE CONTREFACTEUR DES TRAVAUX FORCÉS Le Censeur : L`administrateur : L`administrateur délégué : |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Protection description | Watermark reading CAISSE D`ESCOMPTE embedded in the paper substrate. |
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| Comments |
The Caisse d'Escompte de Genève was a short-lived private discount bank, one of several that operated in the Swiss cantons before the Federal Banking Act of 1881 consolidated note-issuing authority. Geneva's commercial banking culture in the 1850s was heavily oriented toward trade finance with France and Piedmont-Sardinia, and these notes circulated in an environment where the Swiss franc itself was still relatively new — federal coinage had only been standardized in 1850.
The watermark security was the norm for Swiss cantonal private issues of this period, though enforcement of counterfeiting laws remained a cantonal rather than federal matter.