100 Francs

The Caisse Hypothécaire et de Crédit du Canton du Valais was one of several cantonal credit institutions established in French-speaking Switzerland during the mid-nineteenth century to finance agricultural mortgage lending — a function that made their paper circulation inherently regional and limited. By 1871, Swiss cantonal banknote issuance was already under pressure from federal consolidation efforts that would culminate in the Swiss Federal Banking Act of 1881 and eventually the creation of the Swiss National Bank in 1907.

P#586A is among the rarer surviving issues from Valais, a canton whose thin population and largely subsistence agricultural economy meant these notes circulated in small numbers and over short distances. Redemption rates were high; survival rates were not.