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50 Gulden
| Issuer | Bank in St. Gallen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1838 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Printed in black on white cotton paper in a classical early 19th-century intaglio engraved style, the obverse carries a central vignette of a steam locomotive with passenger carriages surrounded by figures, flanked along the left margin by four vertically arranged small vignettes — a cockerel, a beehive with bees, a seated dog, and the numeral 50 — and along the right margin by two oval medallions inscribed FÜNFZIG. The main text in Gothic script reads 'Die Bank in St. Gallen zahlt dem Ueberbringer gegen diese Anweisung FÜNFZIG GULDEN', with manuscript spaces reserved for date and authorising signatures. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Die Bank in St. Gallen zahlt dem Ueberbringer gegen diese Anweisung FÜNFZIG GULDEN im Vier und Zwig... zu Fkfs. St. Gallen den Caßi... Prot... FÜNFZIG 50 |
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| Comments |
The Bank in St. Gallen was one of several cantonal and private note-issuing institutions operating in Switzerland before the Federal Banking Act of 1881 consolidated authority over paper currency. In 1838, Switzerland had no unified monetary system — dozens of banks issued their own notes, accepted at varying discounts depending on the issuer's reputation and how far from home the note traveled.
St. Gallen's commercial ties to the textile trade gave its bank notes reasonable regional credibility, but a 50 Gulden denomination was serious money and would rarely have changed hands casually. Notes of this value from small private issuers of this period rarely survived in any quantity.