Catalog
25 Gulden
| Issuer | Wiener Stadt-Banco |
|---|---|
| Year | 1759 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The face of this early Austrian banknote is organised around a central text block carrying the denomination and redemption obligation in German, Hungarian, and Czech. A large ornate cartouche at the upper centre displays the numeral value, while a second cartouche to the upper right contains the imperial coat of arms. The entire composition is enclosed within a geometric border typical of the engraved letterpress style of mid-18th century Viennese fiscal printing. |
|---|---|
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| Variants | P#A2a - Issued note. Unique P#A2b - "Formulare" |
| Comments |
The Wiener Stadt-Banco was founded in 1706 primarily to manage Vienna's municipal debt, but by the 1750s it had evolved into the principal paper money issuing authority for the Habsburg lands. These early gulden notes — the so-called "Banco-Zettel" — were among the first widely circulated paper currency in the Austrian territories, predating the better-known Banco notes of the Napoleonic period by half a century.
Surviving examples from 1759 are exceptionally rare. The notes were printed in small batches, hand-signed, and subject to periodic recall and destruction as part of routine debt management. Rosler's signature as counter-signatory is one of the few individual names consistently identifiable across the early series.