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500 Francs
| Issuer | Die Bank in St. Gallen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1852 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 215 × 95 mm |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is laid out in a horizontal format with three principal vignettes: at left, an allegorical female figure beside a column, holding attributes associated with craft and industry; at centre, an intaglio-engraved townscape vignette of a street lined with multi-storey buildings; and at right, a seated allegorical female figure with attributes of the arts. Denomination numerals "500" appear in guilloche-bordered panels at the lower left and upper right corners, with "FRANKEN" in tablet frames at upper right and lower left. The text body, rendered in ornate Gothic script, occupies the central field, and the printer's imprint of Toppan, Carpenter, Casilear & Co. appears in small lettering at the lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | FRANKEN 500 Die Bank in Sᵗ. Gallen zahlt dem Ueberbringer gegen diese anweisung Fünf Hundert Franken neüe. Schweizer Währung. St. Gallen, den, _ 18 _ CASSᴿ. PRESᵀ. Toppan, Carpenter, Casilear & Co. New York & Phila. |
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| Comments |
Die Bank in St. Gallen was one of dozens of cantonal and private Swiss institutions that turned to American security printers in the mid-nineteenth century — a counterintuitive arrangement driven by the sophistication of intaglio work coming out of New York and Philadelphia at the time. Toppan, Carpenter, Casilear & Co. were among the premier banknote engravers of the period, producing work for numerous U.S. state-chartered banks before the National Banking Acts consolidated the industry.
Switzerland had no federal currency until 1850, and even after the Swiss franc was established by the Federal Coinage Act, private note-issuing banks continued operating for decades. This 500 Franc denomination would have represented a substantial sum — not retail money, but instrument-of-commerce money, moving between merchants and institutions rather than across shop counters.
The S440 designation places it firmly in the pre-SNB private issue series, a category where surviving specimens are rarely encountered outside specialist auctions and institutional holdings.