Catalog
20 Francs
| Issuer | Banque Nationale de Belgique |
|---|---|
| Year | 1850 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Blue-tinted note with allegorical vignettes at left and right margins — a seated female figure at lower left and Mercury with his caduceus at lower right — framed by intricate guilloche borders. The central field carries the issuing bank's name in letterpress above the large-denomination inscription VINGT FRANCS, with the clause Payable à Vue below. A cartouche at centre top bears the date, flanked by two putti, with the numeral 20 in ornamental ovals at each upper corner. The note illustrated is cancelled by ANNULE perforation across its face. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | BANQUE NATIONALE VINGT FRANCS Payable à Vue |
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| Comments |
Pick 42 places this note at the very beginning of the Banque Nationale de Belgique's existence — the bank was only established by royal decree in 1850, the same year this note was issued. It was conceived partly to stabilize a country still economically rattled by the 1848 revolutionary upheavals that had swept through continental Europe and interrupted credit flows across Belgium's industrial centers.
Early BNB issues of this period are rarely encountered in any condition. The redemption rate for nineteenth-century Belgian paper was high, and few private holders thought to preserve them.