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2 Francs - State Loan Bank reserve banknote
| Issuer | Darlehenskasse der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft (Swiss Confederation Loan Bank) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
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| Reference(s) | P#26 |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 2 Darlehenskasse der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft 2 ZWEI FRANKEN DEUX FRANCS DUE FRANCHI Bundesratsbeschluss vom 27 April. 1915. Eidgenöss Finanzdepartement Eidgenössische Staatskasse SBalzer. ART. INSTITUT ORELL FÜSSLI - ZÜRICH |
| Reverse description | The reverse, uniformly printed in red-orange, is covered by an intricate guilloche lathe-work pattern filling the entire field, with the large numeral 2 at centre within a circular medallion formed by rosette ornaments. The Swiss cross appears at the top centre above a circular band carrying the institution's name in French and Italian, while the denomination is stated in all four national languages within and around the central vignette. |
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| Comments |
Switzerland's Darlehenskassen notes were emergency money, authorized in August 1914 as the confederation scrambled to prevent a run on gold reserves at the outbreak of war. The 2 Francs denomination sat at the lower end of the series and was intended to ease the acute shortage of small change — hoarding had stripped coins from circulation almost overnight. Orell Füssli, Zurich's principal security printer, handled the entire series, giving these wartime issues a production quality well above most European emergency paper of the same period.
By 1918, the Darlehenskassen notes were being withdrawn as regular currency stabilized. The 1915 dating places this in the second year of issue, when demand had already peaked.