Swiss Francs

I recently found one too! You seriously wouldn't believe the amount of foreign (to the US) coinage I cull from my pocket change! It's astounding really considering some feel like aluminum and I know that the bank is supposed to be weighing the rolls..how do they stay in circulation that long anyway? anyhow It would be neat to see your franc and I also would like info on them. Sorry so long winded..lol

It's not 20 francs, it's 20 rappen - or 20 centimes, depending on whether you're asking a French-speaking or German-speaking citizen.

Switzerland is one of the few countries left where finding really old coins in circulation is still quite likely. That's because Switzerland hasn't reformed its currency or significantly changed it's coinage designs in over a hundred years. The 20 rappen/centimes coin has had exactly the same design since 1881 and is still issued with this same design today. The only change has been in composition: up to 1938, the coins were pure nickel; after this, cupronickel. The nickel ones are becoming scarcer now that the Swiss government is actively removing them from circulation - they're magnetic, so they're relatively easy to separate out with a coin sorting/counting machine - but as you can see from the NGC page, 1920 is not a scarce date.

"The nickel ones are becoming scarcer now that the Swiss government is actively removing them from circulation - they're magnetic, so they're relatively easy to separate out with a coin sorting/counting machine..."

Is that true? Interesting... Is that really worth the government's time? The intrinsic value is way lower than face... Wouldn't attrition and collectors do that job substantially well for them?

Do the really worn pieces (or different composition) mess with vending machines or something?

Yeah, there is definitely a "nickel bullion market" for certain coin series, mainly for the pre-82 pure nickel Canada 5c pieces, demonetized French half/1/2 francs and Dutch guilders, plus a few others... The magnetism does make them nice and easy to pull out, unless there are steel pieces clouding the issue.

As of October 2011, however, the pre-1939 pure nickel 20 rappen is worth well more in face value than in nickel metal content (about 22 cents exchange value to 7.5 cents nickel content).

In consideration of the highs of several years back in the metals markets, plus the appreciation of the Swiss Franc... I decided to waste way too much time (more of a waste than trying to pick out nickel bullion coins? hmmm...) and look at the efficacy of this.

Another thing which must be factored - the most worthwhile Swiss nickel coins to melt actually would be the (1930s only) pure nickel 5 rappen... followed by the (1930s only) 10 rappen, THEN the (all pre-1939) 20 rappen. The size wasn't perfectly proportional to value... the 20 rappen was 4g, while the 10r was 3g and 5r weighed 2g, making the latter have the most bang for the buck. Note that the pure-nickel 5r and 10r were only made from the early 1930s to 1941 - before and after were not copper-nickel - so there would be way more 20r available for our operation.

1 pound = 453.59237 grams, so the nickel content of these coins in standard pounds.:
pure nickel 5 rappen: .00441 lb.
pure nickel 10 rappen: .006614 lb.
pure nickel 20 rappen: .00882 lb.

Rough estimates from charts... At nickel's peak early '07 (about $24/lb), the Franc was worth about 82 cents. Mind you, this run-up to a peak in nickel wasn't very long lived... again, VERY rough figures, it started out from about $7/lb in early 2006, roughly doubled and then leveled there through the 2nd half of that year, then ran up quickly in the first half of 2007 to a peak around May... From there, it fell back quickly through the latter half of 2007, then dropped steeply again (with everything else) in late 2008. It ticked up slightly from that bottom up 'till now.

Note: The Swiss Franc was in the neighborhood of 80 cents to the dollar pretty consistently from early 2004 through late 2007, when (with several swings in between) it began its steady run-up to where it is now.

So, at the brief Spring 2007 peak, using $24/lb. nickel and CHF = 82 cents:

Ni content metal value ForEx value
5 rappen in nickel: .00441 lb. 10.6 cents 4.1 cents
10 rappen in nickel: .006614 lb. 15.9 cents 8.2 cents
20 rappen in nickel: .00882 lb. 21.2 cents 16.4 cents

So, for the more common pure nickel 20 rappen issues, there WAS a premium there for a brief time. Whether it was enough to cause widespread hoarding/melting... debatable. Now for the 5r (and less so than 10r)... this probably did make some sense... but again, these were made for a shorter period of time.

You also have to factor in just how many of these older issues were/are actually still floating around there... Think how many people here pull out 1930s and 40s Jeff nickels when they find them... b/c they're old.

NOW, in October 2011 ($8.50/lb. nickel, using a CHF worth $1.10):
Ni content metal value coin ForEx value
5 rappen in nickel: .00441 lb. 3.7 cents 5.5 cents
10 rappen in nickel: .006615 lb. 5.6 cents 11 cents
20 rappen in nickel: .00882 lb. 7.4 cents 22 cents

PS - Yeah, there's little incentive to hoard U.S. nickels at the current price levels b/c it's an alloyed coin and b/c of the laws against it (reinforced a few years back when metals were high, fearing a penny/nickel shortage)... but also because ALL nickels up through the present are the exact same composition.

Of course, the mid 1982 and back pennies (sort of similar to pre-1982 Canadian nickels) are another story... better premium, purer alloy, difference in composition over time makes them sort-worthy... plus the penny would be the first to be demonetized once a pack of Doublemint costs a full buck.

Here are a couple of pics of the Swiss coin I found. I appreciate all the earlier comments/education!

That's a pretty old coin to find in a roll of US nickels!
I had not seen anything this old when Franks and Rappen were my pocket change.