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50 Francs
| Issuer | Bank in Basel |
|---|---|
| Year | 1883-1906 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | Green intaglio-printed note with an elaborate guilloche border and repeating trilingual denomination legend along the upper and lower margins. At left, a standing allegorical female figure in classical robes holds a staff, executed in fine line engraving; at lower right, a seated putto vignette within a scrollwork cartouche. The central text panel, set against a delicate lozenge underprint, carries the issuer name and payment obligation in German, the issue date, and three signature lines for the Kassier, Präsident, and Direktor, with the denomination numeral '50' repeated in each corner. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 50 DIE BANK IN BASEL zahlt dem Überbringer, bei Sicht, FÜNFZIG FRANKEN 50 in gesetzlicher Barschaft. BASEL 1. Oktober 1893. DER PRÄSIDENT : DER KASSIER : DER DIREKTOR : 50 |
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| Comments |
The Bank in Basel — Bank in Basel, Banque de Bâle — was one of several Swiss cantonal and private banks of issue that operated before the Swiss National Bank's founding in 1907 effectively ended their note-issuing rights. This 50 Francs note falls within that final window, printed by Bradbury Wilkinson in London across a run spanning more than two decades.
Joseph Storck was a Vienna-based decorative arts professor whose work appeared across multiple Central European printing commissions in this period — an unusual choice for a Basel institution, suggesting the design was likely commissioned through a shared catalogue arrangement rather than a bespoke engagement. Albert Walch contributed to the obverse alongside him.
Bradbury Wilkinson's intaglio work for Swiss private banks of this period is consistently tight, and the paper quality was specified as cotton — a deliberate hedge against the forgeries that plagued lithographed Swiss cantonal notes in the 1870s.