bavarikon4UPaper money in Luxembourg
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was linked to the Kingdom of the Netherlands in personal union until 1890. After the dissolution of the personal union it became an independent state.
The first paper money was issued during the time of the state union with the Netherlands. The governor of Luxembourg, Prince Henry of Orange-Nassau (1820-1879), commissioned research on the Bank of Weimar in the 1850s. The Weimar Bank was founded in 1853. It was intended to support trade, commerce and agriculture through loans and to promote the circulation of money by issuing banknotes. This central bank was to serve as a model for the establishment of a Luxembourg central bank. The International Bank was finally founded in Luxembourg in 1856. It was founded with the right to issue banknotes and was intended to support Luxembourg, which was still mainly an agricultural country, in developing its industry. A first issue was made in the year of foundation in the currencies francs and thalers. There was no longer an issue in guilders. All other issues were denominated in the currency francs. However, the equivalent value in marks was still indicated on the banknotes until 1919, as Luxembourg had been a member of the German Customs Union up to then. The International Bank of Luxembourg still exists today but has not issued banknotes since 1981.
Another central bank was founded in 1873 by decision of the Parliament, the Großherzoglich Luxemburgische Nationalbank (National Bank of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg). However, it went bankrupt just a few years later and the issued banknotes were withdrawn from circulation. Just a few specimens have survived and are therefore very rare.
The state first issued paper money in the form of cash vouchers in 1914. These vouchers also show the equivalent value in marks until the withdrawal from the German Customs Union. After the First World War, the government bonds became increasingly important as a means of payment. In the end, the International Bank of Luxembourg only issued the 100 franc denomination, while the State issued the rest. When German troops occupied Luxembourg in 1940, the Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg (1896-1985) and the government fled to London. The German banknotes, the Reichsmark notes, circulated as a means of payment. At the same time, printing houses in England and the USA produced a new series which was put into circulation after the liberation in 1944.
>> This collection is part of the holdings of "Paper money in Europe" of the Giesecke+Devrient Stiftung Geldscheinsammlung (Giesecke+Devrient foundation: collections of bank notes).