Catalog
100 französische Fünf-Franken-Thaler
| Issuer | Deposito-Cassa der Stadt Bern |
|---|---|
| Year | 1832 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Cotton paper |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse is executed in a restrained early 19th-century intaglio style with a prominent central vignette area framed by fine guilloche border work. The large denomination numeral '100' appears in an ornamental cartouche at centre, with the main text in a bold blackletter script reading 'Ein Hundert französische Fünf-Franken-Thaler'. Signature lines for the 'Namens der Finanz-Commission' and 'Der Commissions-Schreiber' appear at lower right, with blank fields for handwritten date and number at lower left, and a vertical decorative panel of repeated guilloche pattern along the left margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Die Deposito-Cassa der Stadt Bern bezahlt dem Ueberbringer gegen Auslieferung dieses Gut-Scheins, 100 Ein Hundert französische Fünf-Franken-Thaler oder deren gesetzlichen Werth in baarem Silbergeld? BERN, den Namens der Finanz-Commission, Der Commissions-Schreiber, No. Commission vom |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Deposito-Cassa der Stadt Bern occupied an unusual institutional position — it was a municipal deposit institution, not a chartered bank of issue in any conventional sense, which makes this note's very existence something of an administrative anomaly. The denomination itself signals the problem it was solving: the "100 französische Fünf-Franken-Thaler" is a unit of account built around the French five-franc coin, reflecting how thoroughly French silver had penetrated Swiss commercial life in the years following the Napoleonic reorganization of the Helvetic territories.
Switzerland had no unified currency until 1850. Before the Federal Coinage Act, each canton improvised, and Bern's recourse to a French coin-based denomination was entirely practical.