1000 Gulden

The Privilegirte Oesterreichische National-Bank was operating under severe pressure by the early 1840s — the state had never fully recovered financially from the Napoleonic Wars, and the bank's note circulation was chronically under-collateralized by metallic reserves. A 1000 Gulden denomination was not money for ordinary commerce; at a time when a Viennese craftsman might earn 200–300 Gulden annually, this was an instrument for settling large merchant debts and interbank transfers.

The watermark constitutes the primary security measure, which speaks to the relative simplicity of Austrian anti-counterfeiting practice at this date compared to contemporaneous British or French issues. The 1848 revolution and subsequent monetary crisis would render much of this series functionally obsolete within a decade.