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500 Francs
| Issuer | Banque Nationale de Belgique |
|---|---|
| Year | 1852 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | 1871 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 500 ROYALME DE BELGIQUE 500 BANQUE NATIONALE Payable à Vue CINQ CENTS FRANCS Bruxelles, le 1 Juin 1852 (Translation: Kingdom of Belgium National Bank Payable at sight Five Hundred Francs Brussels, June 1st., 1852) |
| Reverse description | A mirror-image transfer of the obverse design printed in blue, with angelic figures replacing the allegorical groups of the face; the central panel retains the guilloche underprint pattern rendered entirely in blue ink, giving the reverse a distinctly lighter and more ethereal appearance than the black intaglio obverse. |
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| Comments |
The Banque Nationale de Belgique was established by royal decree in 1850, making this 1852 note among the earliest issues from an institution barely two years old. The 500 franc denomination placed it firmly in the realm of commercial and wholesale transactions — a sum well beyond the reach of ordinary wages — so genuine wear from hand-to-hand retail circulation is essentially nonexistent on surviving examples.
Léopold Wiener was primarily a medallist and engraver of considerable reputation, not a banknote designer by trade. His involvement signals the bank's early ambition to produce notes of genuine artistic standing rather than purely functional currency instruments.