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500 Francs 2nd series, type 1
| Issuer | Swiss National Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1910-1917 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Francs (500 CHF) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Red and pink intaglio-printed note with dense guilloche borders framing the entire face. An oval portrait vignette at left centre shows a young woman in period dress with an elaborate coiffure, rendered in fine engraved line work. The trilingual bank title — in German, Italian, and French — is set across the upper register, with the denomination in large numerals at the upper corners and centre, the authorising law date, serial number, place and date of issue, and three manuscript signature lines arranged across the lower half. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection description | Watermark incorporated into the paper substrate. |
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| Comments |
Eugène Burnand was primarily a painter — a Vaudois artist known for large-scale religious and peasant scenes — an unusual choice to design a high-denomination banknote, and his involvement here reflects the SNB's early determination to treat its inaugural series as a cultural statement rather than a purely technical exercise. Waterlow & Sons executed the engraving in London; the credited engraver "Drummond" was a house engraver at the firm.
With three distinct date series across 1910, 1914, and 1917, and multiple signature combinations per date, the number of distinct varieties is considerable. The 1917 dates coincide with wartime currency pressure in Switzerland, when hoarding of coin and nervous demand for high-denomination notes both spiked.