Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Francs - Baudouin I
| Issuer | Belgian Treasury (Trésorerie de Belgique) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1964 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Imprimerie de la Banque Nationale de Belgique, Brussels |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Intaglio portrait of King Baudouin I, fifth King of the Belgians (reigned 1951–1993), rendered in three-quarter view at center-right against a guilloche underprint. The bilingual title "ROYAUME DE BELGIQUE / KONINKRIJK BELGIE" and "TRESORERIE / THESAURIE" frame the vignette, with the denomination "VINGT FRANCS / TWINTIG FRANK" inscribed below. The engraver's and designer's credits — "H. DE CUYPER SC. L. DE DECKER DEL" — appear in the lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central vignette of the Atomium, the iconic steel structure erected for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair and now a landmark of the Belgian capital, set against a fine guilloche background. The denomination and issuing authority are repeated in Dutch in the surrounding text panels. Anti-counterfeiting text is carried in the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Belgian Treasury, rather than the National Bank, issued this note — an arrangement that persisted for small denominations because the National Bank held no mandate to circulate notes below 50 francs. The Treasury series effectively functioned as the state's answer to coin shortages, filling a gap the banking system was not structured to fill.
De Cuyper's engraving work was done in-house at the Banque Nationale's own printing facility — an unusual convergence of a Treasury obligation produced entirely within a central bank's infrastructure.