40 Francs 2nd series, reserve banknote

Switzerland declared mobilization on 1 August 1914, the same day Germany declared war on Russia. The Nationalbank had prepared a reserve series precisely for this contingency — notes held back from normal circulation and released only under conditions of monetary stress. The 40 Franc denomination itself is a curiosity: Switzerland used it in no other peacetime series, and its existence reflects specific calculations about what denominations a wartime economy would actually need.

Pick 13 is scarce in any grade. Reserve issues were never released in quantity, and surviving examples often show storage folds rather than circulation wear — a different kind of use-history entirely.