100 — One Hundred Francs
The artwork
Front: James Ensor (1860–1949) in red-brown intaglio, bearded and curly-haired, with his signature engraved at lower left and "HONDERD FRANK" running up the side. To the right, a crowd of the grotesque carnival masks that fill his paintings — grinning, hollow-eyed faces in green, orange and grey, with a long-nosed plumed mask at the edge. Engraver and designer are credited under the green-and-red 100.
Back: A beach at Ostend after Ensor: wooden bathing huts and horse-drawn bathing carts with big spoked wheels, a press of small figures crowding the steps, a lone standing woman, and bathers tumbling in stylised waves along the foot. The bank's name is set in French and German at the right, with the treasurer's and governor's signatures below the vignette.
In circulation
Part of Belgium's final franc series, issued from the mid-1990s and the last 100-franc note the country printed. It circulated until the euro changeover: euro notes took over on 1 January 2002 and franc notes lost legal-tender status weeks later, though the National Bank still exchanges them.
Details
- CurrencyFranc
- DenominationOne Hundred Francs
- Collectedon the Belgium journeys, 1996–2016
- IssuerNationale Bank van België / Banque Nationale de Belgique / Belgische Nationalbank
- SeriesFinal Belgian franc series; James Ensor 100 francs
- SignatureTwo: the Treasurer (De Schatbewaarder / Le Trésorier / Der Schatzmeister) and the Governor (De Gouverneur / Le Gouverneur / Der Gouverneur)
- SecuritySegmented security thread through the note; serial number printed twice on the back