20 Rigsbankdaler Nationalbanken, handwritten serial number, 2 impressed stamps, signatures on reverse

Nationalbanken i Kjøbenhavn was established by royal charter in 1818 to replace the discredited Rigsbanken, whose notes had collapsed in the wake of Denmark's state bankruptcy of 1813. The Rigsbankdaler itself was a transitional unit — introduced after that bankruptcy to stabilize exchange, it persisted through the mid-nineteenth century before being replaced by the Rigsdaler in 1854. This note, issued in 1851, falls within the final years of that denomination's existence.

Gustav Hetsch was an architect and decorative arts administrator, not a conventional banknote engraver — his involvement reflects the Danish tendency at this period to treat note design as a craft commission rather than a security printing problem. The two impressed stamps and handwritten serial number are authentication measures entirely consistent with Danish practice before the adoption of more mechanized security printing later in the century.