1000 Francs 1st series

Switzerland's first banknote series was commissioned before the Swiss National Bank even opened its doors — the SNB was established in 1907, and these notes had to be ready at inception, which meant sourcing a printer abroad while domestic infrastructure was still being arranged. Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. in New Malden, Surrey handled the work, a logical choice given their reputation for intaglio security printing across multiple European central banks at the time.

The 1000 Franc denomination was the highest in the inaugural series and almost never appeared in everyday commerce. At that value in 1907, it functioned primarily as an interbank instrument. Josef von Storck was a Viennese professor of decorative arts whose involvement points to the decidedly Austrian aesthetic influence on early Swiss note design — a detail that sits oddly against the finished product's English manufacture.