Catalog
500 Francs
| Issuer | État du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Reverse description | Black print on a red-pink underprint, with a guilloche border running along all four edges. The text is set in a Gothic blackletter typeface, with the denomination "Fünf Hundert Franken" in large display lettering across the lower center. The issuing authority and legal references appear in German above, flanked by the numeral "500" in each corner, with two manuscript signature lines below the central text. |
| Reverse lettering | Großherzoglich Luxemburgischer Staat Kassenschein auf den Inhaber Gesetz vom 28. November 1914 Großhz. Beschluß vom 11. Dezember 1918 Fünf Hundert Franken Die General-Staatskasse Die Kontrolle (Translation: State of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Cash Voucher To Bearer Law of November 28, 1914 - General Decree from December 11, 1918 Five Hundred Francs The General State Treasury / The Controller) |
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| Comments |
Luxembourg's postwar currency situation in 1919 was genuinely complicated. The Grand Duchy had used German marks during the occupation and needed to reestablish a functioning monetary identity before the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union took formal effect in 1921. This 500 Francs note belongs to that transitional window — issued by the state itself rather than a central bank, because Luxembourg had neither one nor the infrastructure to create paper money domestically on short notice.
The P#33 series is rare in any condition. Low print runs, a short effective circulation window, and the subsequent monetary union — which shifted day-to-day commerce toward Belgian franc instruments — all worked against survival. Notes returned to the treasury were routinely destroyed rather than archived.