Catalog
50 Francs
| Issuer | Banque du Commerce de Genève |
|---|---|
| Year | 1889-1906 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette enclosed within an ornamental frame of oval guilloche work intertwined with a wreath of grapevines and clusters, flanked by cartouches bearing the denomination above and below. To the left, a standing draped figure of Libertas, the Roman personification of Liberty, wearing a diadem and holding a shield, faces right; to the right, a kneeling putto supports a value cartouche. The date, denomination, issuer title, and two manuscript signature lines are contained within the central panel. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Three interconnected decorative panels in a horizontal arrangement; the central rectangular frame contains the denomination in three languages, while the two flanking circular frames each enclose a profile head of Hermes facing inward. Elaborate guilloche borders surround each panel, with value cartouches placed at each of the four corners. |
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| Comments |
The Banque du Commerce de Genève was one of several Swiss cantonal and private banks of issue that operated under the fragmented pre-federal banking system — a arrangement that persisted until the Swiss National Bank's establishment in 1907 effectively ended private note issuance. This note falls squarely in that final window, when private banks were still competing for circulation against increasingly aggressive federal consolidation pressure.
Albert Walch was a Viennese engraver closely associated with the Austrian state printing works; Josef von Storck, better known as an applied arts architect and director of the Vienna Museum of Art and Industry, contributed design work to banknote production as part of that institution's broader commercial engraving output. An unusual pairing for a Geneva private bank.