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100 Französische Franken = 20 Fünf Franken Thaler
| Issuer | Bank in Basel |
|---|---|
| Year | 1845 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | The face of this note is printed in black on plain paper with a guilloche border running along all four sides. A central vignette at the top presents a panoramic townscape of Basel with a prominent equestrian statue in the foreground. The denomination is stated twice in large numerals flanking the central text, with the equivalence in Fünf Franken Thaler noted in the upper left corner and the emission date and serial number in the upper right. Three signature lines are arranged across the lower portion of the note, attributed to the Kassier, the President, and the Bankdirektor respectively. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse of this note has not been documented in available catalog sources for this issue; no second image is provided to confirm its design. |
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| Comments |
The Bank in Basel was one of several cantonal private banks operating before the Swiss National Bank's founding in 1907, each issuing its own notes with no federal coordination. This denomination — expressed as both 100 French Francs and 20 Five-Franc Thalers simultaneously — reflects the genuinely chaotic monetary arithmetic of mid-19th century Switzerland, where multiple foreign currencies, local coins, and bank notes circulated interchangeably and conversion between them was a daily practical necessity, not a formality.
The dual denomination inscription was a functional requirement, not decorative. Basel's commercial ties ran north into Germany and west into France with equal intensity.