A Swiss Commemorative Coin 1936 5f

Switzerland has four official languages; German, French, Italian, and Romansch (a minor language spoken only in remote parts of Switzerland). All of these languages render "Switzerland" differently; "Schweiz", "Suisse", "Svizzera" and "Svizra". You can't fit all this onto one coin, and how will you make it equal when one language has to come first? So the Latin word "Helvetia" is used; that way, all languages are equally excluded.

This is the very first real commemorative coin (excluding the shooting thalers) that Switzerland has produced. 20000 pieces were minted. The coin should weigh 15 grams, should have a diameter of 31 mm and consist for 835/1000 out of silver. Values (acoording to th swiss coin and currency catalog edition 2013 are 20 CHF (=19.84 USD) in XF and 30 CHF (29,76 USD) in Uncirculate dcondition.

The 13 stars represent the former 13 cantons that formed the confederate swiss republic in 1848.

Perfect! Jupke, thank you your thorough explanation of the coin.

"Teh" is just a misspelling of "the", I assume.

Switzerland is a confederation of 26 cantons (basically states), which used to each issue their own coins. The borders were decided centuries ago, so they look strange on a map



Bern is the capital of Switzerland, so I guess the coins of Bern used to say "DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT", and when the currency was standardized (one set of coins for the whole country, instead of one set of coins for each canton) it was the motto from the capital's coins that was ultimately used on the edges of all coins.

Does anyone know if the Swiss mint used unpolished collar dies on commemorative 5 franc coins?

I checked Heritage auction results and did not find a single example of a 1936 Armament Fund 5 Franc with a collar die that shows multiple lathing lines.

I suspect the coin could be a well executed Numismatic forgery. If so I would suspect it is struck on a polished silver planchet. Dies are close to perfect but I see another issue that in my opinion would be unwise to publish.

Regarding the fund - from what I have read the fund came as a result of the threat of war by Germany (Nazi) - hence an armament fund.

I am not joking - I am concerned it could be a numismatic forgery. The coin shows what I would classify as an incorrect polish on the edge of the die face where it meets the collar die on the struck coin. Looks like lathing marks on the top of the raised rim. The graded examples all show a different looking surfacing method.

I of course can not be certain from a photograph but it clearly looks different.

The cost is 14 Euros which is $14.75 US today. The coin has a higher catalog value ($40 or so) suggesting you got a bargain price. That is also always suspicious. Mintage was only 130,000 coins. So the coin is not in high demand but would be a variety that the average collector might expect to see. It is not MS nor is it a coin that would be graded. It is therefore a coin I would expect to see as a numismatic forgery.

A genuine coin contains only 0.402 oz of silver which has a melt value of $15.70 per ounce so the coin itself has a melt value of $6.31. Now presuming the coin uses the correct alloy which might actually be somewhat short - the profit over melt is $8.44 which more than pays for fabrication with a very healthy profit margin.

The most successful forgers work on targets just like this coin. Coins that are low interest - high but not MS grades - small mintage coins priced at spot or at least well below book value. They become quick purchases that will be put aside not graded.

When I was a kid Francis Henning's nickels were still circulating. The margin on a 5 cent coin was just a couple cents on the nickel - but it was enough. Too many people today view exorbitant profits as being necessary to support forgery. It is just not true.

Henry - I agree a cautious approach is best. I would not be surprised to find that the coin was genuine or counterfeit. I am simply advising caution with this one.