Luxembourg’s paper-money sits inside the Belgian–Luxembourg monetary union (BLEU) yet keeps a distinctly national look. From the 1960s through the early 1980s, the visual language—fine lathework, tight guilloches, restrained pastels—was shaped by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. and De La Rue. The cleanest record of that craft isn’t in pocket-worn notes but in the photographic proofs, printer’s proofs and specimens that escaped the printers’ archives.
This page anchors two connected chapters. First, the 1970 100 Francs (Grand Duke Jean): we show face & back photographic proofs, a rare gridline specimen used for plate alignment at De La Rue, a color-trial, a specimen, and the issued note—an end-to-end view of how BLEU-era design moved from studio film to press. Second, the unissued 1982 high denominations (500 & 1000 Francs) prepared by BWC: created as a contingency during the 1982 devaluation shock, fully proofed and color-tested, then shelved when policy stabilized and the Institut Monétaire Luxembourgeois (1983) re-anchored joint issuance. Because circulation never happened, proofs and SPECIMENs are the only witnesses—rare, high-grade survivors that document a national series “ready to print” but never released. Use the filters above to pivot by type, printer or year; card-level text ties each piece back to this story so the set reads as one coherent chapter.