20 Franken

The Bank in St. Gallen was one of several cantonal and private Swiss banks that turned to American security printers in the early 1850s — a practical choice, since Toppan, Carpenter, Casilear & Co. had established a strong reputation for anti-counterfeiting techniques, particularly their intricate lathe-work guilloche patterns, which Swiss domestic printers couldn't easily replicate at the time.

Sheets crossed the Atlantic before the notes ever entered Swiss hands. That transatlantic supply chain was unremarkable for the period but feels incongruous given how fiercely local Swiss banking identity would become in later decades.