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50 Francs
| Issuer | Solothurnische Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1881 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Giesecke+Devrient (Giesecke & Devrient), Leipzig, Germany (1852-date) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in dark brown on a light ochre underprint and presents a symmetrical letterpress layout with two large allegorical vignettes in vertical frames at left and right: a seated female figure at left and a standing draped figure at right, both rendered in fine intaglio engraving. The denomination numeral "50" appears in each of the four corners within ornate guilloche cartouches. The centre of the note carries the issuer's name in bold blackletter script above the value expressed in German, with the place and date of issue, and three signature lines for the Finanzdepartment, the Bankpräsident, and the Bankdirector. A detailed panoramic vignette of the town of Solothurn with its cathedral and surrounding buildings occupies the lower central portion. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse of this note has not been documented in available catalog sources. |
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| Comments |
The Solothurnische Bank was one of roughly forty Swiss cantonal and private banks of issue that circulated their own notes before the Swiss National Bank's founding in 1907 ended the era of decentralized Swiss currency. This 50 Francs note from 1881 is among the earlier emissions from a bank that never achieved the circulation scale of its Zurich or Geneva counterparts, which is precisely why surviving examples are uncommon.
Giesecke & Devrient of Leipzig were the dominant supplier of security printing to smaller German-speaking issuers throughout this period — their work for provincial Swiss banks accounts for a significant share of the firm's 1870s–1880s output.