Banknotes of the Swiss franc

The current series of the Swiss franc (in the process of being renewed since 2016). As of 2015, the Swiss 1000-franc banknote is the world's highest value currently-issued banknote, followed by the Singapore 1000-dollar note and the 500 euro note.

Banknotes of the Swiss franc are issued by the Swiss National Bank in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 1,000 Swiss francs.

History

The first banknotes in Switzerland were issued in 1825 by the Caisse de dépôt of the city of Bern.^[1]

During the 19th century the Cantons had the right of printing notes. Following the law of 8 March 1881 the Swiss National Bank had the exclusive right to issue banknotes in Switzerland. First notes were issued in 1907. Since then, eight series of Swiss franc notes have been printed, six of which have been released for use by the general public, and a new series is expected in 2016.^[2]

Overview

Overview of all series of Swiss banknotes[3]
Series	Introduction	Date recalled	Valueless since/from	Designer	Remark
1st	1907	1 July 1925	1 July 1945	Josef Storck and Albert Walch	Changeover notes, similar to notes used by earlier banks
2nd	1911	1 October 1958	1 October 1978	Eugène Burnand, Ferdinand Hodler, S. Balzer
3rd	1918	1 July 1925	1 July 1945	Orell Füssli	War notes; only partially issued
4th	1938	—	—	Victor Surbeck and Hans Erni	Reserve series, never issued
5th	1956	1 May 1980	1 May 2000	Pierre Gauchat and Hermann Eidenbenz
6th	1976	1 May 2000	1 May 2020	Ernst and Ursula Hiestand
7th	—	—	—	Elisabeth and Roger Pfund	Reserve series; never issued
8th	1995	—	—	Jörg Zintzmeyer	Current series
9th	12th April 2016	—	—	Manuela Pfrunder	planned, partially introduced

All series of Swiss banknotes

First series

1st series of Swiss banknotes[4]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	issue	withdrawal	lapse
		50 francs	166 × 103 mm	Green/Yellow	Helvetia	Ornaments	20 June 1907	1 July 1925	1 July 1945
		100 francs	183 × 116 mm	Blue	Helvetia	Ornaments
		500 francs	199 × 126 mm	Green	Helvetia	Ornaments
		1000 francs	215 × 132 mm	Purple	Helvetia	Ornaments
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Second series

The second series of Swiss banknotes was issued between 1911 and 1914.

2nd series of Swiss banknotes[5]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description		Date of			Notes
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	issue	withdrawal	lapse
		5 francs	148 × 70 mm	Brown/Green	William Tell	Ornaments	3 August 1914	1 May 1980	1 May 2000
		10 francs	135 × 82 mm	Brown/Yellow	Woman from Neuchâtel	Ornaments	—	—	—	Reserve note
		20 francs	163 × 95 mm	Blue/purple	Vreneli	Ornaments	31 July 1914	31 December 1935	1 January 1956
		50 francs	165 × 106 mm	Green	Woman's head	Woodcutter	22 December 1911	1 October 1958	1 October 1978
		100 francs	181 × 115 mm	Dark blue	Woman's head	Reaper	16 September 1911	1 October 1958	1 October 1978
		500 francs	200 × 125 mm	Red/Brown	Woman's head	Embroideres	24 December 1912	1 October 1958	1 October 1978
		1000 francs	216 × 131 mm	Purple/Orange	Woman's head	Foundry	16 September 1911	1 October 1958	1 October 1978
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Third series

The third series of Swiss banknotes was printed in 1918; some of the notes were issued as war notes, while others were kept as reserve.^[6]

Fourth series

The fourth series of Swiss banknotes was printed in 1938 as a reserve series and was never issued.

4th series of Swiss banknotes[7]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description		Date of issue
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse
		50 francs	167 × 96 mm	Green	Woman's head	Bull	Never issued (reserve series)
		100 francs	190 × 106 mm	Blue	Woman from Haslital	Ornaments
		500 francs	210 × 116 mm	Brown-red	Woman's head	Chemistry
		1000 francs	228 × 125 mm	Purple	Woman's head	Turbine
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Fifth series

The fifth series of Swiss banknotes was issued starting in 1957.

5th series of Swiss banknotes[8]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description		Designer	Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse		issue	withdrawal	lapse
		10 francs	137 × 75 mm	Red-brown	Gottfried Keller	Bennet blossoms	Hermann Eidenbenz	1 October 1956	1 May 1980	1 May 2000
		20 francs	155 × 85 mm	Blue	Guillaume-Henri Dufour	Thistle		29 March 1956
		50 francs	173 × 95 mm	Green	Head of a girl	Apple harvest	Pierre Gauchat	14 June 1957
		100 francs	191 × 105 mm	Dark blue	Head of a boy	St Martin		14 June 1957
		500 francs	210 × 115 mm	Brown-red	Head of a woman	Fountain of Youth		14 June 1957
		1000 francs	228 × 125 mm	Purple	Head of woman	Danse Macabre		14 June 1957
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Sixth series

6th series of Swiss banknotes[9]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	issue	withdrawal	lapse
		10 francs	137 × 66 mm	Red	Leonhard Euler	Water turbine, the solar system and a scheme of propagation of rays of light passing through lenses	5 November 1979	1 May 2000	1 May 2020[10]
		20 francs	148 × 70 mm	Blue	Horace-Bénédict de Saussure	Mountain range, a group of alpinists and the Ammonshorn	4 April 1979
		50 francs	159 × 74 mm	Green	Conrad Gessner	Eagle owl, primula, stars	4 October 1978
		100 francs	170 × 78 mm	Dark blue	Francesco Borromini	Upper part of the dome-tower as well as the floor plan of the church Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza	4 October 1976
		500 francs	181 × 82 mm	Brown	Albrecht von Haller	Muscular figure of a human body, graph of respiration and the circulation of the blood, and a purple orchis	4 April 1977
		1000 francs	192 × 86 mm	Purple	Auguste Forel	Three ants and a cross-section of an anthill	4 April 1978
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Seventh series

A seventh series of Swiss banknotes was designed and printed in 1984, in parallel with the sixth series, but was never released. It formed the reserve series, to be released, for example, if the current series would suddenly become widely counterfeited. At first, almost no information was released on the series for security reasons, except for small fragments. However, after the eighth series was released, it was decided to improve the security features of the current series rather than develop a new reserve series. The details of the seventh series were later released, while the actual banknotes were destroyed. The designers were Roger Pfund and Elisabeth Pfund. They had originally won the competition for the design of the sixth series, but since the Swiss National Bank decided to use the design by Ernst and Ursula Hiestand instead, the Pfunds were charged with the design of the reserve series.^[11][12]

7th series of Swiss banknotes[9]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description		Date of issue
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse
		10 francs	137 × 66 mm	Red-brown	Leonhard Euler; development of the polyhedron, the bridges of Königsberg	Gamma function; table for the calculation of numbers; diagram of the Solar System	Never issued (reserve series)
		20 francs	148 × 70 mm	Blue	Horace-Bénédict de Saussure; quartz crystals; Hornblende beam	Hair hygrometer, view of the valley of Chamonix and the Mont Blanc massif; expedition to the Tacul glacier
		50 francs	159 × 74 mm	Green	Conrad Gessner; branch of a dwarf cherry tree; foliage of the bush	Golden eagle (based on a woodcut from Gessner's Historiae animalium); "Metamorphosis of animals"; Latin text from the Historiae Animalium referring to the seven-headed hydra
		100 francs	170 × 78 mm	Dark blue	Francesco Borromini; architectural motif from the Basilica of St. John Lateran	Raising of the lantern and the spire of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza; floor plan of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane; dove and olive branch
		500 francs	181 × 82 mm	Brown	Albrecht von Haller;hexagonal structure of the cell; cell tissue	18th century anatomy plate; x-ray of the human thorax; mountains, referring to his poem "The Alps"
		1000 francs	192 × 86 mm	Purple	Louis Agassiz; structure of the surface of a shellfish	Head, skeleton and fossil of a perch; structure of the scales of a perch; ammonite
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Eighth series

The eighth series of Swiss franc banknotes, designed by Jörg Zintzmeyer, entered circulation in 1995.

8th (current) series of Swiss banknotes[13]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Obverse	Date of issue	Reverse
Obverse	Reverse
		10 francs	126 × 74 mm	Yellow	Le Corbusier	8 April 1997	Ground plan, government district of Indian city of Chandigarh
		20 francs	137 × 74 mm	Red	Arthur Honegger	1 October 1996	mouvement symphonique Pacific 231
		50 francs	148 × 74 mm	Green	Sophie Taeuber-Arp	3 October 1995	Tête Dada, 1919
		100 francs	159 × 74 mm	Blue	Alberto Giacometti	1 October 1998	L'Homme qui marche I
		200 francs	170 × 74 mm	Brown	Charles Ferdinand Ramuz	1 October 1997	Lac de Derborence/Diablerets, Lavaux
		1000 francs	181 × 74 mm	Purple	Jacob Burckhardt	1 April 1998	Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Ninth series

First banknote of the ninth series.

In 2005, the Swiss National Bank held a competition to determine the design of the next series of banknotes. The competition was won by Manuel Krebs, but his designs, which include depictions of blood cells and embryos, were met with sufficient opposition from the general public as to discourage the bank from going forward with them.^[14] As a result, the ninth series of Swiss franc banknotes will be based on designs by second place finalist Manuela Pfrunder.^[15] The series was scheduled to be issued around 2010 but was delayed to 2015 due to technical problems in the production.^[2][16] The new 50 franc banknotes was issued on April 12, 2016.

Security and counterfeiting

The current banknote series possesses at least eighteen security features.^[17]

According to the central banks, the ratio of counterfeited bank notes is about 1 in 100,000 of real bank notes for the Swiss franc, of 1 in 20,000 for the Euro, of 1 in 10,000 for the United States dollar and of 1 in 3,333 for the Pound sterling.^[18]

See also

• Coins of the Swiss franc
• Vreneli

Notes and references

1. Billets de banque in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland. ; A. Meier: Monnaies....
2. Curtis, Malcolm (27 Mar 2013). "Swiss money really is dirty: UK scientists". The Local (Switzerland edition). Retrieved 3 July 2013. The Swiss National Bank, responsible for producing Switzerland’s money, is planning to introduce new banknotes in 2015 after several delays due to technical problems with paper.
3. All banknote series of the SNB, on the website of the Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 1 June 2007.
4. First banknote series 1907, on the website of the Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 1 June 2007.
5. Second banknote series 1911, on the website of the Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 1 June 2007.
6. Third banknote series 1918, on the website of the Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 1 June 2007.
7. Fourth banknote series 1938, on the website of the Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 1 June 2007.
8. Fifth banknote series 1957, on the website of the Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 30 September 2007.
9. Sixth banknote series 1976, on the website of the Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 1 June 2007.
10. Sixth series, on the website of the Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 30 August 2012.
11. Seventh banknote series, on the website of the Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 30 September 2007.
12. Jean-Marc Côté, "Habiller l'argent : Roger Pfund", Bulletin de l'Association des Numismates Francophones du Canada. Last accessed 1 June 2007.
13. Eighth banknote series 1995, on the website of the Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 1 June 2007.
14. Swiss distressed over currency redesign, 8 December 2005 article on the website of the International Herald Tribune. Last accessed 1 June 2007.
15. New banknotes project on the website of the Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 1 June 2007.
16. Press release of 13 december 2012: Issue of new banknote series delayed. Last accessed 5 September 2012
17. An overview of the security features, Swiss National Bank (page visited on 11 October 2013).
18. (French) Michel Beuret, "Les mystères de la fausse monnaie", Allez savoir !, no. 50, May 2011.

Bibliography

• Michel de Rivaz, The Swiss banknote: 1907–1997. Genoud, 1997. ISBN 2-88100-080-0
• Albert Meier: Monnaies - Billets de Banque. Suisse - Liechtenstein 1798-1995. Hünibach 1996

External links

• Banknotes and coins (Swiss National Bank)