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20 Francs
| Issuer | Banque Nationale de Belgique |
|---|---|
| Year | 1850 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1830-1999) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse, printed as a mirror image of the obverse design, displays the same allegorical seated figures and guilloche framework in a light blue-grey impression, with the denomination numeral 20 visible in the upper corners and the central vignette repeated in the background. The overall layout is symmetrical, with elaborate foliate scrollwork bordering all four sides. The note is cancelled by ANNULE perforation corresponding to that on the obverse. |
| Reverse lettering | BANQUE NATIONALE VINGT FRANCS Payable à Vue |
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| Comments |
Pick 42 places this note at the very beginning of the Banque Nationale de Belgique's existence — the bank was only established by royal decree in 1850, the same year this note was issued. It was conceived partly to stabilize a country still economically rattled by the 1848 revolutionary upheavals that had swept through continental Europe and interrupted credit flows across Belgium's industrial centers.
Early BNB issues of this period are rarely encountered in any condition. The redemption rate for nineteenth-century Belgian paper was high, and few private holders thought to preserve them.