20 francs Type 1978

Reference:

Pick: #55 , The Banknote Book: B338

Reference list

Description

Switzerland. Swiss National Bank (Schweizerische Nationalbank). Sixth issue (1976-1979). Banknote identical to the Pick: # 54 but with the front image with a narrow edge. The note dates from 1978 but is only issued from 04-04-1979. Permanently removed from circulation on 01-05-2000. Work of Ernst and Ursula Hiestand. Printer: Art Institute Orell Füssli AG, Zurich. Dimensions: 148 x 70 mm. Filigrane: portrait of Horace-Bénédict de Saussure. Security thread incorporated in the paper and visible by transparency. The SNB's translation texts are printed in blue on both sides and in four languages: Romansh, French, German and Italian. Front and back: Multicolored print predominantly blue. Front: in the foreground, a portrait of the Geneva physicist, geologist and naturalist "Horace-Benedict de Saussure (1740-1799)" after a painting by the Swiss painter Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours (1752-1809). In the background, multicolored composition with a moisture meter (called a hair hygrometer) and snow crystals repeated continuously. On the outside of the sticker, the two blue dots in relief are intended to facilitate the recognition of the ticket by the blind. The value "20" is printed in the left side of the thumbnail. This value is repeated smaller in the lower right corner. Ten issue dates and eleven signature variants with the Chairman of the Board and a member of the Executive Board. Back: composition in vertical. Both signatures are printed in blue. The value "20" is printed roughly in the thumbnail representing a stylized Ammonshorn and a group of mountaineers departing for the ascent of the Kleine Matterhorn or Le Petit Cervin, summit of the Valais Alps culminating at 3883m. This scene reminds us that De Saussure was the precursor of mountaineering and the first to successfully climb the massif. The banknote number is repeated twice outside and inside the illustration and printed in black. The first two digits preceding the serial number letter indicate the date of issue. Known specimen perforated "SPECIMEN" in vertical, overprinted "SPECIMEN" in red and oblique on both sides. A three-digit specimen number is printed in black near the perforation. The banknote is still refundable until 01-05-2020. Other Reference: TBB (The Banknote Book): B338.

Note: Initially the underprint of the 20-franc note did not extend above the large 20 at upper center on front (Réf. TBB : #B338a, top), whereas on later issues the underprint almost reaches the border of the box (Réf. TBB : #B338b, bottom). Source: The Banknote Book.

Signatures variants:
Signatures #52 : Edmund Wyss / Leo Schürmann.
Signatures #53 : Edmund Wyss / Pierre Languetin.
Signatures #54 : Edmund Wyss / Fritz Leutwiler.
Signatures #55 : Edmund Wyss / Markus Lusser.
Signatures #57 : François Schaller / Markus Lusser.
Signatures #58 : François Schaller / Pierre Languetin.
Signatures #59 : François Schaller / Hans Meyer.
Signatures #61 : Peter Gerber / Markus Lusser.
Signatures #62 : Peter Gerber / Jean Zwahlen.
Signatures #63 : Peter Gerber / Jean Zwahlen.
Signatures #64 : Peter Gerber / Hans Meyer.

Banknotes :Swiss National Bank, sixth issue (1976-1993)