110 year old Swiss coins still in circulation - Amazing !!!

Just been given this 110 year old Swiss 20 Rappen that was in a friend's change a few weeks ago from a sweet shop in Lucerne.  Anyone else think Swiss coins are amazing?

Yes, I am a big fan and collector of Swiss coins. 

That's a nice find from circulation. 

In 2016, I received a 20 cents issued in 1931.

Last year, a friend of mine got a 20-cent struck in 1884 in its change.

In the whole world, Switzerland is unique, that in 150 years the coinage has not changed,  and every coin emitted in that time is still legal tender.

Only the USA has a longer continuous coinage. though in actual circulation,  only the Lincoln one cent coin which begins only  at 1909, is continuous, and still can be found very old examples. Every other type of all denominations have long since been culled by collectors.

I think its great. Although when I went there in 2014, I got nothing older than a 10 Rappen from 1958. It is only the 10 and 20 Rappen you can get going back to 1879. That is because the 5 rappen became brass around 1980 and the 1 and 2 rappen have been demonitised. The coins from ½ franc to 5 francs are all 1968 or later, as that was when they became base metal from silver.

My best old 20 rappen - 1885          A very battered 1850 10 rappen, these coins were 10% silver, so billion.

That 1850 is actually pretty cool looking , hole and all. The Bee privy mark is well preserved. 

Not sure that anyone will be intersted in this, but these are my oldest Swiss coins (below):

 Amazing that the silver ones have survived after the 1960s sell off of silver in Europe.

Oops, two more:

Sure, always glad to look at pictures.

here's a silver Franc from the early years.

it too is a “problem coin”, but It has decent details

As mentioned above, U.S. Lincoln Cents of quite a ripe age can stil be found in circulation (though they wear down more than the durable Swiss alloy).

A year or two ago I found a 1910 Lincoln, easily the oldest U.S. coin (by age at find) that I have gotten.  

The chances of finding most pre-1940s coins in the US are pretty slim, but not impossible. I'd say less than 1% for pennies and nickels and less than 0.1% for anything higher.

I recently found a 1913 Lincoln cent and a 1907 V cent nickel just last week.

People who regularly hunt rolls still find Indian Head cents, Bison nickels, Mercury dimes, and Franklin and Walking Liberty halves and even occasional early commemorative halves like the Columbian expo (1892-93). It's been a while since I heard of anyone finding Barber or Sitting Liberty dimes/quarters, though, but I did recently hear of someone finding a Standing Liberty quarter.

some very well used dimes

Just found these in a few coins a friend gave me.  Amazing what you can find in Kent, UK.

Just kidding - friends just came back from a weekend in NY last week and these were in their loose change, probably from a previous visit a few years back. 

Some of ttHe oldest US coins in my collection - low value 

Its sometimes surprising what can find its way over to this side of the pond.  Likewise, how on earth do you get older Swiss coins in the US?

Posted by Mr. Midnight on 28-Apr-2023, 00:08

some very well used dimes…

Bit more than a dime - these are more like a half dollar in current face value

LDC63

Posted by Mr. Midnight on 28-Apr-2023, 00:08

some very well used dimes…

 

Bit more than a dime - these are more like a half dollar in current face value

True, but the physical dimesions are almost identical.

Absolutely, the CHF is one of the highest value currencies around. It is nearly 2 NZ$ to 1 of them.

For those who don't know, the reason the demi francs are so small is because they used to be silver, but when they were nickelised in 1968, they were the same size in muck metal and not much larger than the 10 rappen (centimes).

You can always tell them apart from the 10 as they have a full length Helvetia and the sides are milled, 20 rappen and lower coins have a plain edge.

Some more gems of mine!

1933 5 Francs (These were reduced in size and weight in 1931 I think)

1941 2 Francs - gVF

1958 2 Francs - AU/near UNC

1951 5 Francs - AU

2 Francs including 1928                         Group of 1 and demis

The reason I show these, is that I got all of these coins at melt silver value in 2020. I think it was about $8 per 2 Franc coin.

Always good to save coins from the melting pot.  In my opinion, it's like melting away your history.  Well done.

And I managed to buy a 1876 1 Franc in VF from a dealers $5 bin (That is 2.7 Swiss Francs).

That was a result. WELL FOUND.