Switzerland 20 Swiss francs 2012 The 80 years of Globi

Switzerland 20 Swiss francs 2012 The 80 years of Globi

Caption: “Globi” – A silver coin and a gateau for his 80th birthday

Reverse: Globi holding cake, "Globi".
Lettering: Globi.

The obverse has a typically minimalistic design, simply featuring the Swiss cross and the slightly offset legend: “CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA”, “2012” and “20 FR”. Indicating the face value of 20 Swiss Franc, date and country of issue.
Lettering: CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA 2012 B 20 FR.
Edge: Inscripted.
Lettering: DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT ************.

Artist in the style of Robert Lips.
Technical data Alloy: Silver 0.835.
Weight: 20 g.
Diameter: 33 mm.
Legal face value 20 Swiss francs.
Date of issue 5th June 2012.
Mintage Standard coinage, uncirculated: max. 50,000 coins.
Proof coin in presentation case: max. 7,000 coins.
Guide prices Standard coinage: CHF 25.00.
Proof coin: CHF 55.00.
Coined and issued by Federal Mint Swissmint Bern.

  The Federal Mint Swissmint is dedicating a commemorative coin to Globi, the most successful Swiss children’s book character ever, in honour of his 80th birthday. The silver coin has a face value of 20 francs. It was designed in the style of the Globi artist Robert Lips and is available in “uncirculated” and “proof coin” qualities in a presentation case. In a symbolic act on 6th June 2012, Kurt Rohrer, Swissmint Managing Director, will be handing over a large model of the commemorative coin to a Globi figure at the Heidsee lake in Lenzerheide.
  Globi was created in 1932 as part of the activities to mark the 25th anniversary of the Globus department store. The enthusiastic public response led to Globi’s adventures appearing initially as a teenage magazine and later also in book form. The character has become an integral part of the Swiss cultural treasures and has accompanied generations of children.


Globi
Globi is a Swiss cartoon character often referred to as Switzerland's Mickey Mouse. He is pictured as an anthropomorphic blue parrot with a yellow beak wearing a black beret and a pair of red and black checkered trousers. He was created by the Swiss cartoonist Robert Lips, as an advertising character for the Swiss department store Globus in 1932 for the company's 25th anniversary. He was originally planned to be called “Kimbukku”, but later renamed Globi after the local Basel German (Baseldytsch) dialect word for the department store that created him.

History
He initially appeared in a cartoon strip called “Der Globi”, and later appeared in a cartoon picture-book form called “Globi's World Voyage” in 1935. By 1944, the character gained so much popularity that Globus created a separate company for it, and in 1948 Globi had sold over one million picture books. He was introduced in other markets such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Brazil, but did not do as well. In the 1970s, he was accused of being sexist, racist, and promoting violence, which was based on the attitudes of the 1940s and 1950s, but these accusations did not hold.

Present
He is one of the most popular characters in Switzerland, with sales of over 9 million books, and in October 2003, a full-length film, “Globi and the Stolen Shadows” was made which was based on him. It was directed by Robi Engler in Anime-style. Beside the books, there is a lot of Globi merchandise, including cuddly toys, crockery, cutlery, clocks, school equipment, card games, food. From December 2008, the Swiss town of Engelberg hosts a Globi theme park.

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 2001 Sechseläuten – Spring Festival in Zurich

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 2001 Sechseläuten – Spring Festival in Zurich

Commemorative issue: Zürcher Sechseläuten

Obverse: Burning of the Böögg - Burning straw man within circle.
Lettering: ZÜRCHER SECHSELÄUTEN.
Engraver: J. Grüniger.

Reverse: Value within circle.
Lettering: CONFEDERATIO HELVETICA 2001 5 FR B.
Edge: Reeded.

Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Metal Bi-Metallic Brass center in Copper-nickel ring.
Weight: 15 g.
Diameter: 32.85 mm.
Thickness: 2.50 mm.
Shape: Round.

Sechseläuten
The Sechseläuten (Zürich German: Sächsilüüte) is a traditional spring holiday in the Swiss city of Zürich celebrated in its current form, usually on the 3rd Monday of April, since the early 20th century.

Burning of the Böögg
Following the parade of the Zünfte (guilds), the climax of the holiday is the burning of Winter in effigy, in the form of the Böögg, a figure of a snowman prepared with explosives. The custom of burning a rag doll called Böögg predates the Sechseläuten. A Böögg (cognate to bogey) was originally a masked character doing mischief and frightening children during the carnival season.

The roots of the festival go back to medieval times when the first day of summer working hours was celebrated in the guildhalls across the city. City ordinances strictly regulated the length of the working day in that era. During the winter semester the workday in all workshops lasted as long as there was daylight, but during the summer semester (i.e. starting on Monday following vernal equinox) the law proclaimed that work must cease when the church bells tolled at six o'clock. Sechseläuten is a Swiss German word that literally translates into "The six o'clock ringing of the bells". Changing to summer working hours traditionally was a joyous occasion because it marked the beginning of the season where people had some non-working daylight hours.
  Burnings of Böögg figures (the Swiss German term for "bogey", in origin scary-looking ragdolls) in spring are attested in various places of the city from the late 18th and early 19th century, without direct connection to the Sechseläuten. The combination of the Sechseläuten parade and the burning of an official Böögg was introduced in 1902.
  From 1902 until 1951, the holiday used to be held on the first Monday following vernal equinox. On that day, the Fraumünster bell, for the first time in the year, tolled to mark the end of working hours at 6 p.m. (historically the time of sunset on vernal equinox). The holiday was moved to the third Monday of April in 1952. Because of the later date, and because of summer time introduced in 1981, the lighting of the Böögg's pyre at 6 p.m. has now moved to several hours before nightfall. Additionally, because of its present date, the holiday is often within a week of 1 May, leading to a stark contrast between the upper class dominated Sechseläuten and the working class holiday of May Day. This proximity of the major festivals of two political poles of the society of Zürich has led to various interferences in the past, for example the abduction of the Böögg in 2006 by leftist "revolutionaries" a few days before the Sechseläuten. Since then, several Bööggs are held in reserve with the main one stored at a bank nearby the Sechseläutenplatz (the open area in front of the Opernhaus near Bellevue where most Zürich open air activities take place). Since 2010 the guilds of Zürich allow the women of Gesellschaft zu Fraumünster to practice Sechseläuten, usually just being guests of the guilds respectively the Constaffel society, but still not being as an official guild in Zürich.

Weather oracle
Popular tradition has it that the time between the lighting of the pyre and the explosion of the Böögg`s head is indicative of the coming summer: a quick explosion promises a warm, sunny summer, a drawn-out burning a cold and rainy one. The shortest time on record is 5:07 minutes in 1974 and the longest is 40 minutes in 1970 and 1988. The 2007 explosion of the Böögg`s head (on 16 April 2007) took place 12:09 minutes after the pyre was lit, promising a medium warm summer. On 14 April 2008, heavy rains soaked the Böögg and the wood pyre materials so much that "firemen" in the style of Fahrenheit 451 had to spray the pyre with kerosene or fuel oil after initial ignition in addition to 15 liters of fire accelerant which was initially thrown on the pyre. It took 26:01 minutes for the Bööggs head to explode which indicates a poor weather summer.

Sechseläuten in recent years
The Sechseläuten of 2008 took place on 14 April. Officially, the head exploded only after 26 minutes and one second, promising a rather poor summer. The fact that the head, instead of traditionally exploding, burnt down very quietly caused a lot of confusion. After approximately 20 minutes the head had burnt away completely, but leaving a large piece of the neck hanging from the stake. It was the explosion of that piece that ended this year's event.
  In 2012 it took 12 minutes and 07 seconds, and in this year there was some confusion if both firecrackers in the neck of the Böögg had exploded. It was determined that 12 min 07 secs was the mark.

Swiss Coins 10 Francs 2008 Golden Eagle

Swiss Coins 10 Francs 2008 Golden Eagle

Commemorative issue: Swiss National Park Series - Golden Eagle

Obverse: Value and Swiss cross at center.
Obverse Legend: CONFEDERATIO - HELVETICA 2008 10 B FR.
Reverse: Golden Eagle alighting.
Reverse Legend: PARK NATIONAL SUISSE.
Reverse Designer: Niklaus Heeb.
Edge Description: Segmented reeding.

Composition: Bi-Metallic - Alloy: Aluminium Bronze (Cu 92 / Al 6 / Ni 2) + Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25)
Weight: 15.0000 g.
Diameter: 32.85 mm.

Golden eagle
The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is one of the best-known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. These birds are dark brown, with lighter golden-brown plumage on their napes. Immature eagles of this species typically have white on the tail and often have white markings on the wings. Golden eagles use their agility and speed combined with powerful feet and massive, sharp talons to snatch up a variety of prey (mainly hares, rabbits, marmots and other ground squirrels).
  Golden eagles maintain home ranges or territories that may be as large as 200 km2 (77 sq mi). They build large nests in high places (mainly cliffs) to which they may return for several breeding years. Most breeding activities take place in the spring; they are monogamous and may remain together for several years or possibly for life. Females lay up to four eggs, and then incubate them for six weeks. Typically, one or two young survive to fledge in about three months. These juvenile golden eagles usually attain full independence in the fall, after which they wander widely until establishing a territory for themselves in four to five years.
  Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many areas which are now more heavily populated by humans. Despite being extirpated from or uncommon in some of its former range, the species is still fairly ubiquitous, being present in sizeable stretches of Eurasia, North America, and parts of North Africa. It is the largest and least populous of the five species of true accipitrid to occur as a breeding species in both the Palearctic and the Nearctic.
  For centuries, this species has been one of the most highly regarded birds used in falconry, with the Eurasian subspecies having been used to hunt and kill prey such as gray wolves (Canis lupus) in some native communities. Due to its hunting prowess, the golden eagle is regarded with great mystic reverence in some ancient, tribal cultures. The golden eagle is one of the most extensively studied species of raptor in the world in some parts of its range, such as the Western United States and the Western Palearctic.

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1990 Gottfried Keller

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1990 Gottfried Keller

Commemorative issue: 100th anniversary of the death of Gottfried Keller

Obverse: Portrait of Gottfried Keller (19 July 1819 – 15 July 1890) was a Swiss poet and writer of German literature.
Lettering: GOTTFRIED KELLER 1919 - 1890.

Reverse: Value, inscription and date
Edge Lettering: DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT (13 stars).

Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.45 mm.
Shape: Round.

Gottfried Keller
Gottfried Keller (born July 19, 1819, Zürich — died July 16, 1890, Zürich), the greatest German-Swiss narrative writer of late 19th-century Poetischer Realismus (“Poetic Realism”).
  His father, a lathe artisan, died in Keller’s early childhood, but his strong-willed, devoted mother struggled to provide him with an education. After being expelled from secondary school for a prank, he took up landscape painting. Two years’ study in Munich (1840–1842) brought little success, so he returned to Zürich, where he published his first poems in 1846. From 1848 to 1850 the Zürich government sponsored his studies at Heidelberg, where he was deeply influenced by the philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach. From 1850 to 1855 he lived in Berlin.
  Intending to write for the theatre, he wrote instead the long autobiographical novel Der grüne Heinrich (1854–1855; Green Henry). It was completely revised 25 years later (1879–1880), and in this version, which is standard, the personal story of a young man’s development becomes a classic Bildungsroman (educational novel) in the tradition of Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister. Green Henry (so called because his frugal mother made all his clothes from a single bolt of green cloth) sets out to become an artist. After some success and many disappointments, he returns to his native city and wins some respect and contentment in a modest post as a civil servant. Keller returned to Zürich in 1855 and became clerk to the canton (1861–1876). These 15 years allowed him almost no time for writing. He resumed his literary career late in life.
  Keller is best known for his short stories, some of which are collected as Die Leute von Seldwyla (1856–1874; The People of Seldwyla) and Sieben Legenden (1872; Seven Legends). His last novel, Martin Salander (1886), deals with political life in Switzerland in his time.

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1980 Ferdinand Hodler

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1980 Ferdinand Hodler

Commemorative issue: Ferdinand Hodler

Obverse: Self-portrait by the Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler.
Lettering: FERDINAND HODLER BAVAUD.
Engraver: Bernard Bavaud.

Reverse: Value above legend and date.
Lettering: 5 CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA FR 1980.
Engraver: Bernard Bavaud.

Edge Lettering: DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT (13 stars).

Value 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.45 mm.
Shape: Round.

Ferdinand Hodler
Ferdinand Hodler (born March 14, 1853, near Bern — died May 19, 1918, Geneva), one of the most important Swiss painters of the late 19th and early 20th century. His early works were portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings in a realistic style. Later, he adopted a personal form of symbolism he called Parallelism.
  He was orphaned at the age of 12 and studied first at Thun under an artist who painted landscapes for tourists. After 1872, however, he worked in a more congenial atmosphere at Geneva, under Barthélémy Menn. By 1879, when Hodler settled in Geneva, he was producing massive, simplified portraits owing something to the French realist painter Gustave Courbet. By the mid-1880s, however, a tendency to self-conscious linear stylization was visible in his subject pictures, which dealt increasingly with the symbolism of youth and age, solitude, and contemplation, in such works as “Die Nacht” (1890; “The Night,” Kunstmuseum, Bern), which brought him acclaim throughout Europe. From this time his serious work can be divided between landscapes, portraits, and monumental figural compositions. The latter works present firmly drawn nudes who express Hodler’s mystical philosophy through grave, ritualized gestures. These pictures are notable for their strong linear and compositional rhythms and their clear, flat, decorative presentation.

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1977 Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1977 Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

Commemorative issue: 150th Anniversary - Death of Johann Pestalozzi

Obverse: Value and Swiss cross at center.
Obverse Designer: Kurt Wirth.
Reverse: Portrait of Swiss Pedagogue Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi.
Reverse Designer: Battista Ratti.
Edge Lettering: DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT (13 stars).

Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.45 mm.
Shape: Round.

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (born Jan. 12, 1746, Zürich — died Feb. 17, 1827, Brugg, Switz.), Swiss educational reformer, who advocated education of the poor and emphasized teaching methods designed to strengthen the student’s own abilities. Pestalozzi’s method became widely accepted, and most of his principles have been absorbed into modern elementary education.
  Pestalozzi’s pedagogical doctrines stressed that instructions should proceed from the familiar to the new, incorporate the performance of concrete arts and the experience of actual emotional responses, and be paced to follow the gradual unfolding of the child’s development. His ideas flow from the same stream of thought that includes Johann Friedrich Herbart, Maria Montessori, John Dewey, and more recently Jean Piaget and advocates of the language experience approach such as R.V. Allen.
  Pestalozzi’s curriculum, which was modelled after Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s plan in Émile, emphasized group rather than individual recitation and focussed on such participatory activities as drawing, writing, singing, physical exercise, model making, collecting, map making, and field trips. Among his ideas, considered radically innovative at the time, were making allowances for individual differences, grouping students by ability rather than age, and encouraging formal teacher training as part of a scientific approach to education.
  Pestalozzi was influenced by the political conditions of his country and by the educational ideas of Rousseau; as a young man he abandoned the study of theology to go “back to Nature.” In 1769 he took up agriculture on neglected land near the River Aare — the Neuhof. When this enterprise near Zürich collapsed in 1774, he took poor children into his house, having them work by spinning and weaving and learn simultaneously to become self-supporting. This project also failed materially, although Pestalozzi had gained valuable experience. He also took an active interest in Swiss politics.
  As practical realization of his ideas was denied him, he turned to writing. Die Abendstunde eines Linsiedlers (1780; “The Evening Hour of a Hermit”) outlines his fundamental theory that education must be “according to nature” and that security in the home is the foundation of man’s happiness. His novel Lienhard und Gertrud (1781–87; Leonard and Gertrude, 1801), written for “the people,” was a literary success as the first realistic representation of rural life in German. It describes how an ideal woman exposes corrupt practices and, by her well-ordered homelife, sets a model for the village school and the larger community. The important role of the mother in early education is a recurrent theme in Pestalozzi’s writings.
  For 30 years Pestalozzi lived in isolation on his Neuhof estate, writing profusely on educational, political, and economic topics, indicating ways of improving the lot of the poor. His proposals were ignored by his own countrymen, and he became increasingly despondent. He would have accepted the post of educational adviser anywhere in Europe had it been forthcoming. His main philosophical treatise, Meine Nachforschungen über den Gang der Natur in der Entwicklung des Menschengeschlechts (1797; “My Inquiries into the Course of Nature in the Development of Mankind”), reflects his personal disappointment but expresses his firm belief in the resources of human nature and his conviction that people are responsible for their moral and intellectual state. Thus, Pestalozzi was convinced, education should develop the individual’s faculties to think for himself.
  Pestalozzi’s chance to act came after the French Revolution, when he was more than 50 years old. The French-imposed Helvetic Republic in Switzerland invited him to organize higher education, but he preferred to begin at the beginning. He collected scores of destitute war orphans and cared for them almost single-handedly, attempting to create a family atmosphere and to restore their moral qualities. These few exhausting months in Stans (1799) were, according to Pestalozzi’s own account, the happiest days of his life.
  From 1800 to 1804 he directed an educational establishment in Burgdorf and from 1805 until 1825 a boarding school at Yverdon, near Neuchâtel. Both schools relied for funds on fee-paying pupils, though some poor children were taken in, and these institutes served as experimental bases for proving his method in its three branches — intellectual, moral, and physical, the latter including vocational and civic training. They also were to finance his life’s “dream,” an industrial (i.e., poor) school. The Yverdon Institute became world famous, drawing pupils from all over Europe as well as many foreign visitors. Some visiting educators — e.g., Friedrich Froebel, J.F. Herbart, and Carl Ritter — were so impressed that they stayed on to study the method and later introduced it into their own teaching.
  While dedicated assistants carried on the teaching, Pestalozzi remained the institute’s heart and soul and continued to work out his method. Wie Gertrud ihre Kinder lehrt (1801; How Gertrude Teaches Her Children) contains the main principles of intellectual education: that the child’s innate faculties should be evolved and that he should learn how to think, proceeding gradually from observation to comprehension to the formation of clear ideas. Although the teaching method is treated in greater detail, Pestalozzi considered moral education preeminent.
  The family spirit prevailing at Yverdon was shattered in later years by a progressively severe dispute among the teachers for first place by Pestalozzi’s side. The longed-for poor school, established by means of the proceeds from publication of his collected works, existed for only two years. To Pestalozzi’s great distress, the Yverdon Institute lost its fame and its pupils. His efforts at reconciliation were in vain. With a few pupils he retreated to Neuhof in 1825, sad but convinced that his ideas would prevail in the end. His Schwanengesang (1826; “Swan Song”) culminated in the maxim “Life itself educates.”
  Pestalozzi was an impressive personality, highly esteemed by his contemporaries. His concept of education embraced politics, economics, and philosophy, and the influence of his “method” was immense.

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1982 Ernest Ansermet

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1982 Ernest Ansermet

Commemorative issue: 100th Anniversary of Ernest Ansermet

Obverse: Profile Bust of Ernest Ansermet and music notes.
Lettering: ERNEST ANSERMET 1883-1969

Reverse: Value and date
Lettering: 5 FR CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA 1983
Engraver: Jean Lacoultre
Edge Lettering: DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT (13 stars)

Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.45 mm.
Thickness: 1.5 mm.
Shape: Round.

Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet (born November 11, 1883, Vevey, Switzerland — died February 20, 1969, Geneva), Swiss conductor known for his authoritative interpretations of the works of 20th-century French and Russian composers and for his keen intellectual approach to problems of contemporary musical aesthetics.
  Ansermet studied at Lausanne and from 1906 to 1910 taught mathematics there. Later he studied composition under the Swiss-born composer Ernest Bloch and conducted under two outstanding figures, Felix Mottl and Arthur Nikisch. About 1914 he met Stravinsky and in 1915 he became conductor of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. In 1918 he formed the renowned Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, of which he remained the conductor until his retirement in 1967. He frequently toured Europe with the orchestra and made many recordings with it. Ansermet was a notable exponent and interpreter of the works of Stravinsky, Ravel, Debussy, Roussel, and other contemporary composers. Late in life he turned against 12-tone music (e.g., in his book The Fundamentals of Music in the Human Consciousness, 1961), although he continued to espouse other contemporary music.
  His own works include a symphonic poem, settings of poems by Baudelaire, and the orchestration of Debussy’s Épigraphes antiques.

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1984 Auguste Piccard

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1984 Auguste Piccard

Commemorative issue: 100th Anniversary of Auguste Antoine Piccard (28 January 1884 – 24 March 1962) was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer.

Obverse: Stylized designs - Chinese Yin Yang symbols represent perfect balance, stratospheric balloon and Bathyscaphe Trieste.
Lettering: A. PICCARD 1884 - 1962.
Engraver: Hugo Suter.

Reverse: Value and date.
Lettering: HELVETIA 5 1984 FR.
Engraver: Hugo Suter.

Edge Lettering: DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT (13 stars).

Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.45 mm.
Shape: Round.

Auguste Piccard
Auguste Piccard (born January 28, 1884, Basel, Switzerland — died March 24, 1962, Lausanne), Swiss-born Belgian physicist notable for his exploration of both the upper stratosphere and the depths of the sea in ships of his own design. In 1930 he built a balloon to study cosmic rays. In 1932 he developed a new cabin design for balloon flights, and in the same year he ascended to 17,008 metres (55,800 feet). He completed a bathyscaphe in 1948 and later made several dives with his son Jacques.
  Piccard was born into a family of Swiss scholars. His father, Jules Piccard, was a professor of chemistry at the University of Basel. Auguste and his twin brother, Jean, enrolled together at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, in Zürich, where they studied physics and chemistry, respectively. When they became doctors of science, both decided to teach in universities; Jean, the chemist, went first to Munich, then to Lausanne, and then to the United States; and Auguste, the physicist, stayed on at the Institute. In 1920 Auguste married the daughter of a French historian at the Sorbonne (Universities of Paris I–XIII).
  Piccard became interested in balloon ascents as a means of making experiments. He participated in many important research studies, and when the University of Brussels created a chair for applied physics in 1922, Piccard, who was also a mechanic and an engineer, readily accepted the post. Having studied cosmic rays, he conceived of an experiment for observing them at ascents above 16,000 metres (52,500 feet). Previous ascents had shown that the stratosphere could be fatal and that to penetrate the isothermal layer, with its low pressure, a revolutionary balloon would be necessary. He built such a balloon in 1930, with Belgian financing. Its main innovative feature was an airtight cabin, equipped with pressurized air; this technique later became commonplace on airplanes. Another innovation was the design of a very large balloon having sufficient ascent strength so that, on departure, it need not be completely filled (see photograph). On May 27, 1931, Piccard and Paul Kipfer reached an altitude of 15,781 metres (51,775 feet), where the atmospheric pressure is about one-tenth that at sea level. Upon returning to the surface, the scientist-adventurers were received triumphantly in Zürich and then Brussels.
  In 1932, in a new cabin equipped with a radio, Piccard was able to reach an altitude of 17,008 metres (55,800 feet). The following year, using the same technique but with bigger balloons, other balloonists rose to 18,501 metres (about 60,700 feet) in the Soviet Union and 18,592 metres (about 61,000 feet) in the United States.
  As a child, Piccard had been fascinated by accounts of marine fish and thought that man should also descend into the depths. Now, after his aeronautical successes, he wanted to build a device capable of resisting the pressures of the ocean depths, the bathyscaphe.
  Depth-resistant cabins are, of necessity, heavier than water. Before Piccard, they had been suspended from a cable, but at great depths this procedure was not dependable. Piccard revolutionized the dive by the principle of the balloon. Just as a lighter-than-air balloon carried the nacelle, or balloon gondola, a lighter-than-water float would support the cabin. And just as the balloon required a release of ballast to rise, the bathyscaphe would release weight in order to ascend after having completed its dive. Air, because it is too easily compressed, was not used in the floats; Piccard chose heptane (a petroleum derivative).
  World War II interrupted the construction of the bathyscaphe, which was not completed until 1948. On October 26, 1948, an unpiloted trial dive with the bathyscaphe was conducted successfully in shallow waters of 24 metres (80 feet). On November 3, 1948, in a deeper dive of approximately 1,400 metres (4,600 feet), the cabin withstood the pressure perfectly, but the float was severely damaged by a heavy swell of water that it encountered after the dive. The bathyscaphe project was subsequently troubled by various difficulties until Jacques Piccard, Auguste’s son, intervened.
  Jacques, an assistant in the economics department at the University of Geneva, had already conducted the negotiations with the French government. Then, while in Trieste for the purpose of preparing a study of that port, he received an unexpected offer from that city’s local industry to build a new bathyscaphe. Thus, in August 1953, two bathyscaphes competed in the Mediterranean, at Toulon, France, and near Naples, Italy. The French-based craft descended to about 2,100 metres (6,900 feet), and the Italian-based craft went down to about 3,150 metres (10,300 feet). At the age of 69, Auguste Piccard had realized his dream. His son, abandoning economics, followed in his father’s footsteps and collaborated in future work with bathyscaphes. In 1954 Piccard retired from teaching and left Brussels for Switzerland. His grandson Bertrand Piccard made the first nonstop round-the-world balloon flight in 1999.

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1982 Gotthard railway

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1982 Gotthard railway

Commemorative issue: 100th Anniversary of the Gotthard Railway

Obverse: Stylized design of bridges and rails with Swiss cross with rays, reminiscent of the sun, 1882 - 1982 & GOTTHARDUS.
Lettering: 1882-1982 GOTHARDUS.
Engraver: Bernhard Luginbühl.

The reverse features the denomination with the date below within a wreath (oak branch on the left and cowslips on the right) tied at the base with a bow.
Lettering: HELVETIA 5 Fr. 1982.
Engraver: Bernhard Luginbühl.

Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Composition: Copper-Nickel.
Weight: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.45 mm.
Shape: Round.

Gotthard railway
The Gotthard railway (German: Gotthardbahn; Italian: Ferrovia del Gottardo) is the Swiss trans-alpine railway line from northern Switzerland to the canton of Ticino. The line forms a major part of an important international railway link between northern Europe, especially Germany, and Italy. The Gotthard Railway Company (German: Gotthardbahn-Gesellschaft) was the former private railway company which financed the construction of, and originally operated, that line.
  The railway comprises a main line from Immensee to Chiasso, together with branches, from Immensee to Lucerne and Rotkreuz, from Arth-Goldau to Zug, and from Bellinzona to Locarno and Luino. The main line penetrates the Alps by means of the Gotthard Tunnel at over 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) above sea level. The line then descends as far as Bellinzona, at 241 metres (791 ft) above sea level, before climbing again to the Monte Ceneri Pass. The extreme differences in altitude necessitate the use of long ramped approaches on each side, together with several spirals.
  Construction of the line started in 1872, with some lowland sections opening by 1874. The full line opened in 1882, following completion of the Gotthard Tunnel. The line was incorporated into the Swiss Federal Railways in 1909, and electrified in 1922.
  The approaches to the existing tunnel continue to restrict speed and capacity on this important international route, and in 1996 it was decided to build a new lower level route on the Gotthard axis as part of the AlpTransit project. This route involves the construction of the new Gotthard Base Tunnel and Ceneri Base Tunnel, and it will be integrated with the existing route once completed, with some sections of the two routes in common.

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1976 Battle of Murten 1476

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1976 Battle of Murten 1476

Commemorative issue: 500th Anniversary - Battle of Murten in 1476.

Obverse: Stylized figures Swiss pikemen.
Lettering: MVRATVM 1476 1976.

Reverse: Value.
Lettering: CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA 5 FR.
Edge Lettering: DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT (13 stars).

Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.45 mm.
Shape: Round.

Battle of Morat
The Battle of Morat (also known as the Battle of Murten) was a battle in Switzerland that constituted a major victory for the Swiss Confederation in its war of 1474–1477 against Burgundy. The Battle of Morat, fought June 22, 1476, between Charles I, Duke of Burgundy and a Swiss Confederate army at Morat, the battle took place just outside the town of Morat (or Murten), which is located beside the lake of the same name and lies west of Bern and east of Lake Neuchâtel.
  The Swiss had been drawn into war as allies of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick III and the French king Louis XI, who were opposed to the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold. Bern, which was a member state of the Swiss Confederation, hoped to make territorial gains at Charles’s expense. Toward the end of 1475, both Frederick and Louis suspended hostilities against Charles, who thus became free to concentrate his forces against the Swiss. After suffering a humiliating defeat at Grandson (March 2, 1476), Charles returned to the attack in the summer with 25,000 men and was besieging Morat, on his way toward Bern from Lausanne, when the Bernese, with late reinforcements from the other confederates, came forward to challenge him. The compact formations of the Swiss prevailed over the Burgundian army, of which more than one-third was annihilated.

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1981 500th Anniversary Stans Convention of 1481

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1981 500th Anniversary Stans Convention of 1481

Commemorative issue: 500th Anniversary - Stans Convention of 1481

Obverse: Stylized design - Klaus von Flüe.
Statue of Klaus von Flüe in Niederalteich (Niederalteich is a village on the Danube in Bavaria. Germany. It is best known as the location of Niederaltaich Abbey.)
Lettering: STANS 1481.
Engraver: Kurt Wirth.

Reverse: Value and date.
Lettering: HELVETIA 5 FR 1981.

Edge Lettering: DOMINUS | PROVIDEBIT | * * * * * * * * * * | * * *

Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.3 mm.
Shape: Round.

Convention of Stans of 1481 the Tagsatzung solved the latent conflict between the rural and urban cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy, averting the breaking of the Confederacy, and triggering its further expansion from 8 to 13 members until 1513.
  The tensions between the cantons had arisen in the wake of the Burgundy Wars, among other things due to disagreement over the distribution of spoils which culminated in the Saubannerzug.
  According to Diebold Schilling the Younger, who was present at the session of the Tagsatzung, the conflict was resolved as on 22 December the pastor of Stans, Heini Amgrund, brought a message from the hermit Niklaus von Flüe. Upon reception of the message, the quarrels were laid aside. The content of the message is unknown.
  The compromise solution entailed the accession of Fribourg and Solothurn as full members of the Confederacy.

Diet of Stans 
On December 22nd, 1481, the Convention of Stans was accepted by the Diet of Stans, agreement whereby civil war among the member states of the Swiss Confederation was averted. When the five rural cantons of the federation — Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, and Glarus — concluded a treaty of common citizenship between themselves and the bishopric of Constance (1477), the three other, urban cantons — Luzern, Bern, and Zürich — retorted by concluding a similar treaty for themselves with two other cities, Fribourg and Solothurn. The rural cantons objected to this, chiefly because it seemed to portend the admission of two new cities in the federation and so to upset the existing five-to-three majority of the rural districts over the urban. The ensuing controversy threatened to disrupt the confederation. A conference at Stans, in the Nidwalden subdivision of Unterwalden, in November 1481 failed to achieve anything until a pious hermit of Obwalden, Niklaus von Flüe (Bruder Klaus), was asked to mediate. On his advice, both the five and the three denounced their controversial treaties; and all eight made a new alliance with Fribourg and Solothurn, which thus entered the confederacy on the understanding that they were to make no separate alliances of their own without the approval of a majority among the eight. The result was a positive strengthening of the federal union, which was to be sworn formally every five years; and the admission of French-speaking Fribourg to a federation that had hitherto been exclusively a German-speaking one was highly significant for the future development of Switzerland.

Nicholas of Flüe
Saint Nicholas of Flüe (German: Niklaus von Flüe) (1417 – 21 March 1487) was a Swiss hermit and ascetic who is the patron saint of Switzerland. He is sometimes invoked as "Brother Klaus." A farmer, military leader, member of the assembly, councillor, judge and mystic, he was respected as a man of complete moral integrity, Brother Klaus's counsel to the Diet of Stans (1481) helped to prevent war between the Swiss cantons.

Switzerland 5 Francs Silver Coin 1941 Anniversary of Confederation

Switzerland 5 Francs Silver Coin 1941 Anniversary of Confederation

Commemorative issue: 650th Anniversary of Confederation

Obverse: Three standing figures representing the original cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden.
Lettering: CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA
Obverse Design: Ernst Suter.

Reverse: Small Swiss cross divides dates above inscription.
Lettering: 5FR. 1291 1941, (Federal Charter of 1291, quote) - PROMISERVNT INVICEM SIBI ASSISTERE AVXILIO, B.
Engraver: Luc Jaggi.

Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Metal: Silver (.835).
Weight: 15 g.
Diameter: 31 mm.
Shape: Round.
Mint Mark: B (Bern).

Federal Charter of 1291
The Federal Charter or Letter of Alliance (German: Bundesbrief) documents the Eternal Alliance or League of the Three Forest Cantons (German: Ewiger Bund der Drei Waldstätten), the union of three cantons in what is now central Switzerland. It is dated in early August, 1291 and initiates the current August 1 national Swiss holiday. This agreement cites a previous (lost or most likely not existent in written form) similar pact. It is currently exhibited at the archives of the Swiss Charters of Confederation in Schwyz.
  This inaugural confederation grew through a long series of accessions to modern Switzerland. The Alliance was concluded between the people of the alpine areas of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden (homines vallis Uranie universitasque vallis de Switz ac communitas hominum Intramontanorum Vallis Inferioris). The participants are referred to as conspirati and (synonymously) coniurati, traditionally translated in German as "Eidgenossen".
  The charter was set up as a canon for judicature and defense purposes (only two of seven paragraphs address foreign dangers), probably prompted by the death of Rudolf I of Habsburg on 15 July 1291 to ensure legal certainty.

Swiss National Day
The Swiss National Day (German: Schweizer Bundesfeier; French: Fête nationale Suisse; Italian: Festa nazionale svizzera; Romansh: Fiasta naziunala Svizra) is the national holiday of Switzerland, set on 1 August. It has been an official national holiday since 1994, although the day had been suggested for the celebration of the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy as early as 1889.
  The date is inspired by the date of the Federal Charter of 1291, Pacte du Grutli, placed in "early August", when "three Alpine cantons swore the oath of confederation" (Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden), an action which later came to be regarded as the foundation of Switzerland." The document is one of several dozen pacts attested for the territory of Switzerland in the period of the mid-13th to mid-14th century. The foundation of the Old Swiss Confederacy had been mostly associated with the Bund of Brunnen of 1315, or with the Rütlischwur, dated to 1307 by Aegidius Tschudi. Pronounced "CHOO-dee."
  The Federal Charter of 1291 first assumed great importance in a report by the Federal Department of Home Affairs of 21 November 1889, suggesting a celebration in Bern in 1891 that would combine the city's 700th anniversary with the Confederacy's 600th anniversary.
  The date of the Federal Charter came to replace the formerly more prominent, traditional date of 8 November Rütlischwur, 1307 in popular consciousness in the 20th century, specifically after the 650th anniversary celebrations of 1941.
  1 August is celebrated each year with paper lantern parades, bonfires, hanging strings of Swiss flags, fireworks and competitive rifle shooting matches (in advance of the September Knabenschiessen national shooting match).

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1974 Revision of Constitution

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1974 100th Anniversary - Revision of Constitution

Commemorative issue: 100th Anniversary - Revision of Constitution

Obverse: Three standing female figures and Swiss cross.
Lettering: CONSTITUTIO.
Engraver: Max Weber.

Reverse: Dates flanked by vertical inscriptions.
Lettering: 5 FR 1848 1874 1974 CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA.

Edge: Inscripted.
Edge Lettering: DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT (13 stars).

Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.45 mm.
Shape: Round.

Swiss Federal Constitution
The groundwork for today's Swiss Constitution was laid with the promulgation of the Constitution of 12 September 1848, which was influenced by the ideas of the constitution of the United States of America and the French Revolution. This constitution provided for the cantons' sovereignty, as long as this did not impinge on the Federal Constitution. This constitution was created in response to a 27-day civil war in Switzerland, the Sonderbundskrieg.
  The Constitution of 1848 was partly revised in 1866, and wholly revised in 1874. This latter constitutional change introduced the referendum at the federal level. Beginning in 1891, the constitution contained the "right of initiative", under which a certain number of voters could make a request to amend a constitutional article, or even to introduce a new article into the constitution. This mechanism is called federal popular initiative. Thus, partial revisions of the constitution could be made any time.

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1975 European Monument Protection Year

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1975 European Monument Protection Year

Commemorative issue: European Monument Protection Year

Obverse: Date above inscription flanked by hands.
Lettering: 1975 "HEREDIO NOSTRO FUTURUM" (Our future heirs).

Reverse: Value and inscription.
Lettering: CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA 5FR.

Edge: Inscripted.
Lettering: "DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT" *************

Artist: Franz Fischer, Zürich.
Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight:: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.45 mm.
Shape: Round.

Switzerland Coins 5 Francs 1986 500th Anniversary of the Battle of Sempach

Switzerland Coins 5 Francs 1986 500th Anniversary of the Battle of Sempach

Obverse: Swiss Cross above inscription and date.
Lettering: CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA 5 FR 1986.
Reverse: Stylized design: Swiss Gevierthaufen at the Battle of Sempach on 9 Jul 1386. (The Swiss pikemen)
The pike square (German: Gevierthaufen or Gewalthaufen, meaning crowd of force) was a military tactic developed by the Swiss Confederacy during the 15th century for use by its infantry.
Edge Lettering: DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT (13 stars)

Artist: Rolf Brem, Luzern.
Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight: 13.2 g
Diameter: 31.45 mm
Mint Mark: B (Bern)
Mintage: 75,000
Krause & Mishler Number: KM# 65

Battle of Sempach
The Battle of Sempach was fought on 9 July 1386, between Leopold III, Duke of Austria and the Old Swiss Confederacy. The battle was a decisive Swiss victory in which Duke Leopold and numerous Austrian nobles died. The victory helped turn the loosely allied Swiss Confederation into a more unified nation and is seen as a turning point in the growth of Switzerland.
  At Meiersholz, near Sempach, Swiss confederate forces from Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, and Lucern met an Austrian army led by the Habsburg duke Leopold III of Tirol and his commander in chief, Johann von Ochsenstein. The Habsburg forces were retaliating against Lucern, which had recently invaded adjacent Habsburg territories. Estimates of the number of combatants on either side vary from 6,000 Austrians against 1,500 or 1,600 Swiss to 4,000 against 4,000; in any case the Austrians were routed, and Leopold himself was killed. According to legend, the Swiss owed their victory to the personal heroism of a certain Arnold Winkelried, who was said to have deliberately gathered into his own body the lances of the vanguard of Austrian knights. The Battle of Sempach showed that an army of Swiss eidgenossen (“oath brothers”) armed primarily with the pike could defeat chivalric elites in the open field, whether mounted or dismounted.

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1979 Albert Einstein

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1979 Albert Einstein

Commemorative issue: 100th Birthday of Albert Einstein, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect".

Obverse: Inscription, value and date.
Lettering: CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA 5 FR 1979.
Reverse: Portrait of Albert Einstein.
Edge Lettering: DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT (13 stars)

Artist: Jürg Zeller, Basel.
Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.45 mm.
Shape: Round.

Albert Einstein Coins

San Marino Coins 500 Lire 1984 Albert Einstein

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1979 Albert Einstein

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1979 Albert Einstein Formula

Liberia 25 Dollars Gold Coin 2001 Albert Einstein

Northern Mariana Islands 5 Dollars Gold Coin 2004 Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was born at Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany, on March 14, 1879. Six weeks later the family moved to Munich, where he later on began his schooling at the Luitpold Gymnasium. Later, they moved to Italy and Albert continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland and in 1896 he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. In 1901, the year he gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was unable to find a teaching post, he accepted a position as technical assistant in the Swiss Patent Office. In 1905 he obtained his doctor's degree.
  During his stay at the Patent Office, and in his spare time, he produced much of his remarkable work and in 1908 he was appointed Privatdozent in Berne. In 1909 he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich, in 1911 Professor of Theoretical Physics at Prague, returning to Zurich in the following year to fill a similar post. In 1914 he was appointed Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlin. He became a German citizen in 1914 and remained in Berlin until 1933 when he renounced his citizenship for political reasons and emigrated to America to take the position of Professor of Theoretical Physics at Princeton*. He became a United States citizen in 1940 and retired from his post in 1945.
  After World War II, Einstein was a leading figure in the World Government Movement, he was offered the Presidency of the State of Israel, which he declined, and he collaborated with Dr. Chaim Weizmann in establishing the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
  Einstein always appeared to have a clear view of the problems of physics and the determination to solve them. He had a strategy of his own and was able to visualize the main stages on the way to his goal. He regarded his major achievements as mere stepping-stones for the next advance.
  At the start of his scientific work, Einstein realized the inadequacies of Newtonian mechanics and his special theory of relativity stemmed from an attempt to reconcile the laws of mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. He dealt with classical problems of statistical mechanics and problems in which they were merged with quantum theory: this led to an explanation of the Brownian movement of molecules. He investigated the thermal properties of light with a low radiation density and his observations laid the foundation of the photon theory of light.
  In his early days in Berlin, Einstein postulated that the correct interpretation of the special theory of relativity must also furnish a theory of gravitation and in 1916 he published his paper on the general theory of relativity. During this time he also contributed to the problems of the theory of radiation and statistical mechanics.
  In the 1920's, Einstein embarked on the construction of unified field theories, although he continued to work on the probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory, and he persevered with this work in America. He contributed to statistical mechanics by his development of the quantum theory of a monatomic gas and he has also accomplished valuable work in connection with atomic transition probabilities and relativistic cosmology.
  After his retirement he continued to work towards the unification of the basic concepts of physics, taking the opposite approach, geometrisation, to the majority of physicists.
  Einstein's researches are, of course, well chronicled and his more important works include Special Theory of Relativity (1905), Relativity (English translations, 1920 and 1950), General Theory of Relativity (1916), Investigations on Theory of Brownian Movement (1926), and The Evolution of Physics (1938). Among his non-scientific works, About Zionism (1930), Why War? (1933), My Philosophy (1934), and Out of My Later Years (1950) are perhaps the most important.
  Albert Einstein received honorary doctorate degrees in science, medicine and philosophy from many European and American universities. During the 1920's he lectured in Europe, America and the Far East, and he was awarded Fellowships or Memberships of all the leading scientific academies throughout the world. He gained numerous awards in recognition of his work, including the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1925, and the Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1935.
  Einstein's gifts inevitably resulted in his dwelling much in intellectual solitude and, for relaxation, music played an important part in his life. He married Mileva Maric in 1903 and they had a daughter and two sons; their marriage was dissolved in 1919 and in the same year he married his cousin, Elsa Löwenthal, who died in 1936. He died on April 18, 1955 at Princeton, New Jersey.

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1979 Albert Einstein Formula

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1979 Albert Einstein Formula

Commemorative issue: 100th Birthday of Albert Einstein (Formula).

Obverse: Formulas - Albert Einstein's handwriting, excerpts from the equation for the General Theory of Relativity. An equation for determining the space-time structure and the equation of motion for particles.
Lettering: ALBERT EINSTEIN.

Reverse: Inscription above value.
Lettering: CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA 5 FR 1979.

Artist: Kurt Wirth, Bern.
Value: 5 Francs / Franken / Francos.
Composition: Copper-Nickel (Cu 75 / Ni 25).
Weight: 13.2 g.
Diameter: 31.45 mm.
Shape: Round.

Albert Einstein Coins

San Marino Coins 500 Lire 1984 Albert Einstein

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1979 Albert Einstein

Swiss Coins 5 Francs 1979 Albert Einstein Formula

Liberia 25 Dollars Gold Coin 2001 Albert Einstein

Northern Mariana Islands 5 Dollars Gold Coin 2004 Albert Einstein

Swiss Cantons Coins 1 Silver Frank Coin of 1812, Solothurn.

Swiss Cantons Coins

Switzerland coins

Swiss Cantons Coins, Solothurn. Silver Frank Coin of 1812.

Obverse: Swiss soldier wearing plummed hat (with one feather) and uniform, holding large sword and inscribed shield.
Legend: SCHWEIZER EIDGENOSS: / 1. FRANK: / XIX CAN TONE

Reverse: Crowned, oval arms within frame and wreath.
Legend: CANTON SOLOTHURN 1812

Mint Place: Solothurn (Switzerland)
Diameter: 29 mm; Weight: 7.45 gram of Silver

The Solothurn Frank was the currency of the Swiss canton of Solothurn between 1798 and 1850. It was subdivided into 10 Batzen, each of 4 Kreuzer or 10 Rappen.
The Frank was the currency of the Helvetian Republic from 1798. The Helvetian Republic ceased issuing coins in 1803. Solothurn issued coins between 1805 and 1830. In 1850, the Swiss franc was introduced, with 1½ Swiss francs = 1 Solothurn Frank.
Billon coins were issued in denominations of 1, 2½ and 5 Rappen, and 1 Batzen, with silver coins for 5 Batzen, 1 and 4 Franken, and gold 8, 16 and 32 Franken. The 2½ Rappen was also denominated as 1 Kreuzer.

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Switzerland 5 Francs Silver coin, Constitution anniversary, 1948.

Switzerland coins 5 Swiss Francs Silver coin

5 Swiss Francs Silver coin

Switzerland coins 5 Swiss Francs Silver coin, Swiss Constitution Centennial, mint date 1948.



Obverse: Seated woman and child facing left, holding spray.
Legend: HELVETIA

Reverse: Value (5 FR.) above inscription in four lines and swiss cross, splitting date (19-48). Mint initial (B) below.
Legend: 5 FR. / CONSTITUTIO / ANNI MDCCCXLVIII / HELVETIAE FORTIORIS / FUNDAMENTUM / 19-48

Mint Place: Bern
Reference: KM-48.
Weight: 14.94 gram of Silver (.835)
Diameter: 31 mm