20 Franken 1973, Switzerland
| in Krause book | Number: 46u |
| Years of issue: | 07.03.1973 |
| Edition: | Serie: 81A-89Z 22500000 |
| Signatures: | Der Hauptkassier: Herr Rudolf Aebersold (1966 - 1981), Der Präsident des Bankrates: Dr. Brenno Galli (1959 - 1978), Ein Mitglied des Direktoriums: Edwin Stopper (1966-1974) |
| Serie: | Fifth Series |
| Specimen of: | 01.07.1954 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 155 х 85 |
| Printer: | Orell Füssli, Zürich |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Avers:
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The engraving on banknote is made after the portrait of General Guillaume-Henri Dufour by painter Karl Friedrich Irminger.
Guillaume-Henri Dufour (15 September 1787 – 14 July 1875) was a Swiss army officer, bridge engineer and topographer. He served under Napoleon I and held the office of General to lead the Swiss forces to victory against the Sonderbund. He presided over the First Geneva Convention which established the International Red Cross. He was founder and president of the Swiss Federal Office of Topography from 1838 to 1865.
The Dufourspitze (the highest mountain in Switzerland) in the Monte Rosa Massif is named after him.
Dufour was born in Konstanz, where his parents were temporarily exiled from Geneva. His father Bénédict was a Genevan watchmaker and farmer, who sent his son to school in Geneva, where he studied drawing and medicine. In 1807, Dufour travelled to Paris to join the École Polytechnique, then a military academy. He studied descriptive geometry under Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, and graduated fifth in his class in 1809, going on to study military engineering at the École d'Application. In 1810, he was sent to help defend Corfu against the British, and spent his time mapping the island's old fortifications.
By 1814, he had returned to France, and was awarded the Croix de la Légion d'Honneur for his work repairing fortifications at Lyons. In 1817, he returned to Geneva to become commander of the Canton of Geneva's military engineers, as well as a professor of mathematics at the University of Geneva. His duties included preparing a map of the Canton.
Dufour remained a General in the army. Among the officers serving under him was Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of the former Emperor.
In 1847 the Catholic cantons of Switzerland attempted to form a separate alliance of their own, known as the Sonderbund, effectively splitting from the rest of the country. Dufour led the federal army of 100,000 and defeated the Sonderbund under Johann-Ulrich von Salis-Soglio in a campaign that lasted only from November 3 to November 29, and claimed fewer than a hundred victims. He ordered his troops to spare the injured.
In 1850 the mountaineer and topographer Johann Coaz served as his private secretary.
In 1863 he was part of a committee which, under Henry Dunant led to the foundation of the International Red Cross.
On 16 July 1875, 60,000 persons participated at Dufour's burial at Cimetière de Plainpalais, in Geneva.
Dufour acted as state engineer from 1817, although he was not officially appointed as such until 1828. His work included rebuilding a pumping station, quays and bridges, and he arranged the first steam boat on Lake Geneva as well as the introduction of gas streetlights.
The scientist Marc-Auguste Pictet had visited Marc Seguin's temporary wire-cable simple suspension bridge at Annonay in 1822, the first wire-cable bridge in the world, and published details in Switzerland. He joined with others to promote a new bridge across the Genevan fortifications, consulting with Seguin on how it might be built, receiving back a series of sketches. Dufour developed the design in late 1822, proposing a two-span suspension bridge using wire cables - this would become the first permanent wire cable suspension bridge in the world. The design used three cables on each side of an iron and timber bridge deck. The cables stretched 131 feet between the towers, although the largest span was only 109 feet. 
On the left side is short silver cross, as Swiss emblem. The cross reminds us that Switzerland's sovereignty is inviolable. For many centuries, the logo has remained virtually unchanged.
Denominations in numerals are in all corners, centered in numeral and in words.
Revers:
Carlina acaulis (stemless carline thistle, dwarf carline thistle, silver thistle) is a perennial dicotyledonous flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to alpine regions of central and southern Europe. The specific name acaulis (New Latin for "without a stem," from Latin caulis "stem" or "stalk") and common names are descriptive of the manner in which its flower head rests directly upon a basal leaf rosette.
The spiny, pinnatilobate leaves grow in a basal rosette approximately 20 cm in diameter. The flowers are produced in a large (up to 10 cm.) flowerhead of silvery-white ray florets around a central disc. The disc florets are tubular and yellow-brown in colour. To protect the pollen, the head closes in wet weather, a phenomenon folklore holds to presage forthcoming rain. The flowering time is between August and September.
It prefers chalky soils and dry pastures in environments from valleys up to an altitude of 2,800 m.
The rhizome contains a number of essential oils, in particular the antibacterial carlina oxide. The root was formerly employed in herbal medicine as a diuretic and cold remedy.
While young, the flowerhead bud can be cooked and eaten in a similar manner to the Globe artichoke, which earned it the nickname of hunter's bread.
It is sometimes cultivated as a rockery plant, or dried and hung as a house decoration.
Denomination in numeral on the right side.
Comments:
Graphic artist: Hermann Eidenbenz.
Hermann Eidenbenz (September 4, 1902 - 25 February 1993) was a Swiss graphic artist and stamp artist.
The time of his birth his father managed several companies in India, his mother came from Germany (Schwaben). But he received his education in Switzerland.
His training as a graphic artist took place in Switzerland, first at "Orell Füssli" in Zurich and then in the School of Applied Arts in Zurich. 1923 was followed by a stay abroad at "Deffke and Hadank" in Berlin. As early as 1926 he became a teacher of writing and graphics at the arts and crafts school in Magdeburg. He practiced six years of this profession before he opened his own graphic studio in Basel with his brothers - Reinhold and Willi. In 1937 he was involved in the Pavilion of Switzerland for the World Exhibition in Paris from 1940 to 1943 he taught at the general trade school in Basel.
For Haas'sche type foundry he designed in 1945 the Graphique Font, in 1950 was followed by the Clarendon Font. Today these fonts are available from Linotype Library.
In 1953 he returned to Germany and became head of the department of commercial art at Werkkunstschule, in Braunschweig. In 1955 he joined the company "Fa.Reemtsma", in Hamburg, there to act as artistic collaborator.
He created numerous logos and posters. This also includes the logo of "Basler Verkehrsbetriebe" (BVB). The supported by two arms of Basilisk in Basel graced so many BVB vehicles than any other Signet before or since. In 1947 thus drove the first motor car. In addition Eidenbenz took over even the graphic design of the car numbers used from 1947 until today.
He created for Switzerland and for Germany In addition, banknotes and stamps. So he designed the first series of the D-Mark banknotes, issued by the Deutsche Bundesbank and the fifth series of banknotes of the Swiss franc, which came into circulation from 1956. The stamp of the German Post Office for the 100th anniversary of Carl Friedrich Gauss from 1955 was designed by him.
Date of first issue: 29.03.1956
Date of recall: 01.05.1980
Worthless from: 01.05.2000
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