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!
50 Francs
| Issuer | Banque Nationale de Belgique |
|---|---|
| Year | 1852 |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | LOI DU 5 MAI 1850 50 ROYALME DE BELGIQUE 50 BANQUE NATIONALE Payable à Vue CINQUANTE FRANCS Bruxelles, le 1 Juin 1852 (Translation: Law of May 5, 1850 Kingdom of Belgium National Bank Payable on sight Fifty Francs Brussels, June 1st., 1852) |
| Reverse description | The reverse reproduces the obverse design in mirror image, printed in black intaglio, with the central text panel overlaid in blue guilloche underprint. The mirror-printed allegorical figures, cherubs at the four corners, and the Royal Arms at bottom centre remain visible in the reversed composition, with blue flourishes reinforcing the central cartouche. |
| 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 Banque Nationale de Belgique was only a year old when this note entered circulation — the bank was founded in 1850, and the 50 Francs was among its earliest emissions. Léopold Wiener was primarily a medallist and engraver to the Belgian royal court, not a commercial banknote designer, which gives this issue an unusual sculptural quality in its intaglio work that later BNB notes largely abandoned in favor of more conventional security engraving.
Pick 4 is genuinely rare at this date. Early Belgian notes suffered heavy attrition through redemption and destruction, and the 1850s issues are among the most seldom encountered in any condition.