500 Francs

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.