500 Franken / Francs / Franchi

The Bank in Basel — Banque de Bâle — was one of the last Swiss cantonal or private note-issuing banks still operating before the Confederation moved to consolidate currency issuance under the Swiss National Bank, finally established in 1907. Notes of this type circulated alongside dozens of competing issues, a situation the federal authorities had been trying to resolve since the Currency Act of 1850 forced at least a degree of standardization on denominations.

A 500-franc private bank note from 1876 Switzerland would have represented a substantial commercial instrument, not retail currency. These moved between merchants and institutions, rarely touching ordinary hands — which cuts both ways on survival rates.