100 Francs

Die Bank in Basel was a private cantonal bank, not the Swiss National Bank — Switzerland had no central bank until 1907, leaving note issuance to a patchwork of cantonal and private institutions through the nineteenth century. This note was produced during that decentralized period, when dozens of competing Swiss banks each issued their own paper, often with little coordination on denominations or redemption terms.

Dondorf & Naumann were Frankfurt's most prolific security printers of the era, responsible for banknotes, bonds, and share certificates across Central Europe. Their Basel commission is a minor but characteristic example of Swiss banks looking across the border for engraving capacity that local printers couldn't match at the time.