Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Francs 2nd series, type 1
| Issuer | Swiss National Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1911-1922 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| 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 laid out in a horizontal format with an elaborate guilloche border framing the entire note. At left centre, a circular vignette bears a classical female portrait in profile, rendered in intaglio. The trilingual bank title — in German, Italian, and French — appears across the upper portion in bold letterpress, beneath which the denomination is stated in all three national languages. The date of issue, series letter, and serial number are printed at lower left and right, accompanied by three manuscript signatures below their respective role designations. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is dominated by a large central oval guilloche underprint in blue-grey tones, within which the numeral '20' is printed in bold intaglio. Encircling the oval, the bank's name appears in German, French, and Italian in a continuous band. The four corners each carry the numeral '20' in decorative cartouches, and the entire composition is enclosed within an intricate guilloche border with foliate and geometric ornamental elements throughout. |
| 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 Swiss National Bank opened for business in 1907, and this note belongs to the very first generation of standardized federal currency — an assertion of central banking authority over a system that had previously relied on a patchwork of cantonal and private issuers. The sheer number of signature combinations here is a direct consequence of Swiss institutional structure: three signatories were required per note, drawn from different positions within the bank's governing hierarchy, and personnel turnover across an eleven-year print run produced the sprawling matrix visible in the data.
Orell Füssli had been printing in Zurich since the sixteenth century and was the SNB's primary security printer from the outset. The "2nd series, type 1" designation signals that this replaced an initial design almost immediately — the first series had a notably short lifespan before the SNB revised its approach to the 20-Franc denomination.