100 Francs 3rd series, reserve banknote

Switzerland's third series was prepared as a wartime reserve — printed but deliberately withheld from general circulation, a precaution against the kind of monetary disruption the SNB watched unfold across its borders during 1914–1918. These notes were never formally issued to the public, which is why surviving examples almost always appear in condition that does not match their age.

Orell Füssli had been the SNB's printer since the institution's founding in 1907. The reserve status of this series means the print run figures were never widely published, and the exact quantity destroyed at the end of the reserve period remains unclear from publicly available SNB records.