Five-franc piece

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Five-franc piece
Five-franc piece
Data
Alloy: 75% copper
25% nickel
Weight: 13.2 g
Diameter: 31.45 mm
Thickness: 2.35 mm
Edge embossing: Dominus Providebit
and 13 stars
Artist: Paul Burkhard

The five- franc coin , commonly known as the five- franc coin in German-speaking Switzerland , sometimes also called Schnägg , is the highest coin in circulation in the Swiss currency . The male head depicted on the coin is an alpine shepherd in a sennechutteli .

Origins

In Switzerland there were “five- franc coins ” even before the Swiss franc , which was introduced in 1850 , in the form of the French 5- franc coins minted from 1795 . These coins were used very often in payment transactions, especially in the west of the country. In Bernese currency, they were equivalent to around 35 Batzen (therefore also called “thirty-five”) or 5 pounds , from which the term “five-liber” (in French, livre for pound) goes back.

Silver coin

Five-fiber from the year 1874 with the motif of the seated Helvetia
Five-ribs from 1908 with the motif Libertas

The first Swiss five-franc coins were minted in 1850. The coins of that time were made of silver and with a diameter of 37 millimeters and a weight of 25 grams were larger than they are today. On the picture side they showed the motif of the seated Helvetia , designed by Friedrich Fisch from Aarau. This motif was also used for the issues of 1851, 1855, 1873 and 1874. On the value side, the representation followed the pattern of the one and two franc coins.

For the years 1888 to 1916, the motif on the picture side was changed and replaced by the Helvetia head based on a design by Karl Schwenzer. The value side was also redesigned based on a design by Christian Bühler and featured a Swiss coat of arms.

In 1922, today's motif was introduced based on a design by Paul Burkhard . On the back it shows an alpine shepherd, who is often interpreted by the population as Wilhelm Tell . After the Latin Monetary Union was dissolved and the value of the money no longer had to be covered by the precious metal value, the size was reduced to 31 millimeters in 1931 and since then the weight has not been five times as much, but only three times as much as a one- franc piece , i.e. 15 grams. The old coins were taken out of circulation on February 1, 1934.

Of the reduced silver variant of the five-franc coin with the alpine shepherd motif, around 76.5 million were minted between 1931 and 1961. These coins were withdrawn from circulation on April 1, 1971.

Cupronickel coin and counterfeits

After the precious metal value exceeded that of the coin, the alloy was changed to cupronickel in 1968 . This alloy is still made from three parts copper and one part nickel. Only the 1969 vintage was exceptionally struck again in silver. Although the five-franc coins from 1968 were officially made from cupronickel, three pieces have so far appeared that are minted from a silver round.

The embossed edge reads "★★★ DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT ★★★★★★★★★★" ( Latin for The Lord will provide ). The motto was adopted from the Bernese coins of the Ancien Régime. Originally, however, the words come from Genesis ( Genesis 22 : 8  HFA ). Between 1985 and 1993, the marginal inscription was deepened because it wears out more slowly. At the beginning of the nineties, a large number of counterfeit five-fibered cars of Italian origin appeared. The forgeries were of high quality, but they could be recognized relatively easily by the distance between the last star and the "D" of "DOMINUS" - with the real five-ribs the distance is approx. 5 mm, while with the forgeries it is either 2, 5 or 8.5 mm. On the other hand, a shift in the edge embossing does not necessarily indicate a forgery - even with genuine five-franc coins, the edge segments can be swapped or shifted by a few degrees.

Counterfeits are known only from the years 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1991, with the 1991 five-coin being distributed by the counterfeiters before the Federal Mint did. That is why this year was retained, as was the last recessed issue from 1993. The coins from these two years were only issued in sets and are accordingly rare and sought after by collectors.

As a reaction to the forgeries, a return to the more difficult to imitate raised (protruding) marginal writing was used for coinage, and in 2004 the years with recessed marginal writing were taken out of course. Two years later, however, around eight million of these invalid five-pennies were still in circulation - they were, like the counterfeits, accepted as a means of payment without any problems. The post office, the Swiss Federal Railways and also the commercial banks have been slow to comply with the obligation to withdraw invalid means of payment.

"Most expensive" circulation coin

Among the common currencies of the industrialized nations, the five-franc piece is currently, together with the Japanese 500-yen piece, the currency coin with the highest value / the highest purchasing power, measured against the exchange rate to other currencies (with the exception of special and commemorative coins).

Commemorative Five-Ribbon

Main article: List of Swiss Commemorative Five-Ribbon

Until 2003 the Swiss Mint ( Swissmint ) minted commemorative coins worth five francs. At first they only appeared irregularly. 

Only between 1974 and 1990 and between 1999 and 2003 was there a commemorative five-pound coin for each year, and in 1979 and 2000 even two different editions. However, these were made of a different material than the pieces published up to 1963. A copper-nickel alloy was used from 1974 to 1990; from 1999 to 2003 the coins were made of bimetal.

Among collectors, the “Laupen” from 1939, the matt coinage for the “Landesausstellung” from 1939 and the trial coinage for the “Fête des Vignerons” from 1999 achieve high prices. The "Laupen" is traded for up to 550 francs, the matt embossing for the "Landesausstellung" reaches a price of up to 2,000 francs, and collectors pay around 220 francs for the trial embossing from 1999.

In 2004, the Swiss Mint introduced a commemorative coin worth ten francs made of bimetal . It replaced the commemorative five-pennies and is still issued today with annually changing motifs. 

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ From French livre or Italian libbra , d. H. « Pound ». See also Schweizerisches Idiotikon, Article Fünflĩber (Vol. III, Sp. 982)
  2. ↑ SRF.ch , accessed on June 17, 2014
  3. ↑ https://www.swissmint.ch/d/downloads/dokumentation/numis_beri/5FR-BURK.pdf , accessed on May 21, 2019
  4. ↑ http://www.schweizer-geld.ch/bundesmuenzen-5-franken/de/14-1
  5. ↑ acsearch.info - Auction research. Retrieved February 21, 2017 .
  6. ↑ http://www.swissmint.ch/d/downloads/dokumentation/numis_beri/Dominus.pdf (accessed on January 20, 2019)
  7. ↑ a b sammlerstube.ch: Wrong 5-franc pieces from the 90s (accessed on May 10, 2014)
  8. ↑ K-Tip: Five-fiber chaos - real and nonetheless invalid , March 15, 2006 (accessed May 10, 2014)
  9. ↑ a b Guide price table “Swiss coins 1850–2016”. In: Numispost. The Swiss magazine for coins. No. 4 / April 2016