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100 Franks / 20 Belgas
| Issuer | Banque Nationale de Belgique / Nationale Bank van België |
|---|---|
| Year | 1927-1932 |
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| Value | 100 Francs = 20 Belgas (100 BEF) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Brown-grey intaglio print. Left vignette shows a lion before a pile of artistic instruments, while the central field carries the promissory text in French. To the right, profile portraits of King Albert I and Queen Elizabeth are arranged together within an oval vignette. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Grey intaglio print. Central vignette portrays a gunsmith at work in his workshop, engaged in the crafting of a rifle. The lower margin is ornamented with a cornucopia and the Belgian coat of arms, with the bilingual denomination text arranged in the surrounding panels. |
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| Comments |
The dual denomination — 100 Francs and 20 Belgas simultaneously — reflects Belgium's short-lived parallel currency system introduced in 1926, when the Belga was created as a unit equal to five Francs, intended primarily to simplify foreign exchange and commercial transactions. The Belga never replaced the Franc in daily use; ordinary Belgians largely ignored it, and the experiment was quietly abandoned after the Second World War without ever achieving the traction its architects anticipated.
With just over twelve million printed across a five-year run, this is not a scarce type in absolute terms, though the earlier dates within the 1927–1932 window turn up less frequently than the later ones.