Description and research notes
Engraver’s proof for the 500 Francs of 1982, wide-margined and printed on heavy archival paper to expose every nuance of line weight before color overlays. Under magnification the burin work shows the transitional style of late BWC engraving—mechanically assisted but still hand-finished. PMG 66 EPQ Top Pop 1/1.
This proof is historically paired with the 1000 Francs of the same emergency program: two finished designs waiting for authorization that never came. When policy re-aligned under the Institut Monétaire Luxembourgeois, both were cancelled, marking the end of Luxembourg’s independent printing ambitions. Survival rate is microscopic—fewer than a dozen combined proofs and specimens are documented—placing this piece among the most important post-war European unissued proofs known.