100 Franken 1956, Switzerland
| in Krause book | Number: 49a |
| Years of issue: | 25.10.1956 |
| Edition: | Serie: 1A-12Z 30000000 |
| Signatures: | Der Präsident des Bankrates: Dr. Alfred Müller (1947 - 1959), Der Hauptkassier: Herr Otto Kunz (1954 - 1966), Ein Mitglied des Direktoriums: Dr. Riccardo Motta (1955 - 1966) |
| Serie: | Fifth Series |
| Specimen of: | 25.10.1956 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 191 х 105 |
| Printer: | TDLR (Thomas de la Rue & Company), London |
* 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:
On the right side - Boy with sheep.
The picture prepared by artist Pierre Gauchat especially for banknote 100 Franken.
On the right side, above the denomination, 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 across all field of banknote.
Revers:
Martin of Tours (Latin: Sanctus Martinus Turonensis, 316, Savaria, Diocese of Pannonia (modern-day Hungary) - 8 November 397, Candes, Gaul (modern-day France)) was Bishop of Tours, whose shrine in France became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints. As he was born in what is now Szombathely, Hungary, spent much of his childhood in Pavia, Italy, and lived most of his adult life in France, he is considered a spiritual bridge across Europe.
His life was recorded by a contemporary, the hagiographer Sulpicius Severus. Some of the accounts of his travels may have been interpolated into his vita to validate early sites of his cult. He is best known for the account of his using his military sword to cut his cloak in two, to give half to a beggar clad only in rags in the depth of winter. Conscripted as a soldier into the Roman army, he found the duty incompatible with the Christian faith he had adopted and became an early conscientious objector.
On the painting divides his cloak with a beggar.
The picture prepared by artist Pierre Gauchat especially for banknote 100 Franken.
Denominations in numerals are in left part of banknote.
Comments:
Graphic artist: Pierre Gauchat.
Security strip.
The four higher-denomination notes, which were issued from 1957, formed a thematic and formal unity for the first time in the history of Swiss banknotes, in that the portrait on the front is connected with the motif on the back of the note. It was the first time that a ten-franc note was not only designed and printed but also issued.
The Swiss National Bank showed great courage for innovation when it chose utterly novel motifs for the fifth banknote series after World War II. The series was designed by the graphic artist Pierre Gauchat, who chose neither heroes nor farmers and landscapes for his notes. Rather, his allegories illustrated universal human values like fertility, compassion, and even death.
This banknote, with the motif of St. Martin, is an allegory of love to neighbor and of humanity.
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