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Swiss Coins
The Swiss monetary unit is
1 franken = 100 rappen (German)
1 franc = 100 centimes (French)
1 franco = 100 centesimi (Italian).
It was introduced in 1850 to replace the currency issued by the cantons, the states
that the Swiss Confederation consists of.
Up to 1926, Switzerland was a member of the Latin Monetary Union, which included France,
Belgium and Italy. The currencies of these countries were interchangeable in an 1:1 ratio.
As far as coins are concerned, the Swiss monetary system did not undergo any major changes since 1850, except for the change from silver to copper-nickel for all denominations from ˝ franc to 5 francs in 1968 and the cessation of the 2 rappen coin in 1974 and the 1 rappen coin in 2006. So the remaining denominations are 5 rappen, 10 rappen, 20 rappen, ˝ franc, 1 franc, 2 francs, and 5 francs. On the reference page, you can find the technical details and the dates of coinage for each design.
From 1883 to 1949, gold coins with the denominations of 10 francs, 20 francs, and 100 francs have been minted. They have never been taken out of circulation, but they are not used for payment anymore, since their bullion value is considerably above their face value. A list of them can be found on the reference page, too.
Commemorative coins were introduced in 1936, equal to the 5 francs coin in size and material. At least one per year is issued since 1974. In 1991, they were replaced by 20 francs silver coins.
