Catalog
50 Francs
| Issuer | Bank in Basel |
|---|---|
| Year | 1883-1906 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular (hand cut) |
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| Obverse description | Green intaglio-printed note with an elaborate guilloche border and repeating trilingual denomination legend along the upper and lower margins. At left, a standing allegorical female figure in classical robes holds a staff, executed in fine line engraving; at lower right, a seated putto vignette within a scrollwork cartouche. The central text panel, set against a delicate lozenge underprint, carries the issuer name and payment obligation in German, the issue date, and three signature lines for the Kassier, Präsident, and Direktor, with the denomination numeral '50' repeated in each corner. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in green on a fine guilloche underprint ground, the reverse is dominated by two large circular medallion vignettes, each enclosing an engraved female portrait bust in profile, set within concentric rings of repeating numeral '50' microtext. A central lozenge-shaped guilloche panel carries the trilingual denomination inscription in bold letterpress. Denomination numerals '50' appear in ornamental cartouches at each corner. |
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| Comments |
The Bank in Basel — Bank in Basel, Banque de Bâle — was one of several Swiss cantonal and private banks of issue that operated before the Swiss National Bank's founding in 1907 effectively ended their note-issuing rights. This 50 Francs note falls within that final window, printed by Bradbury Wilkinson in London across a run spanning more than two decades.
Joseph Storck was a Vienna-based decorative arts professor whose work appeared across multiple Central European printing commissions in this period — an unusual choice for a Basel institution, suggesting the design was likely commissioned through a shared catalogue arrangement rather than a bespoke engagement. Albert Walch contributed to the obverse alongside him.
Bradbury Wilkinson's intaglio work for Swiss private banks of this period is consistently tight, and the paper quality was specified as cotton — a deliberate hedge against the forgeries that plagued lithographed Swiss cantonal notes in the 1870s.