Swiss Franc

The franc (German: Franken, French and Romansh: franc, Italian: franco; code: CH

F) is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal

tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in

the German exclaveBüsingen (the sole legal currency is the euro), it is widely used

on a day-to-day basis. The Swiss National Bank issues banknotes and the

federal Swiss mint issues coins.

The Swiss franc is the only version of

the franc still issued in Europe. The

smaller denomination, a hundredth of

a franc, is a Rappen (Rp.) in

German, centime (c.) in

French, centesimo (ct.) in Italian, and rap (rp.) in Romansh. The ISO code of the

currency used by banks and financial institutions is CHF, although "Fr." is used by

most businesses and advertisers; some use SFr.; the Latinate "CHF" denotes

Confoederatio Helvetica franc, because Latin is used as the neutral language

representing the country given its tetralingual populace.

History

(Before the Helvetic Republic)

Before 1798, about 75 entities were making coins in Switzerland, including the

25 cantons and half-cantons, 16 cities, and abbeys, resulting in about 860 different

coins in circulation, with different values, denominations and monetary systems.

(Franc of the Helvetic Republic, 1798- 1803)

In 1798, the Helvetic Republic introduced a currency based on the Berne thaler,

subdivided into 10 batzen or 100 rappen. The Swiss franc was equal to 6¾ grams

pure silver or 1½ French francs.

This franc was issued until the end of the Helvetic Republic in 1803, but served as

the model for the currencies of several cantons in the re-formed Swiss Confederacy.

(Franc of the Swiss confederation, 1850-)

Although 22 cantons and half-cantons issued coins between 1803 and 1850, less

than 15% of the money in circulation in Switzerland in 1850 was locally produced,

with the rest being foreign, mainly brought back by mercenaries. In addition, some

private banks also started issuing the first banknotes, so that in total, at least 8000

different coins and notes were in circulation at that time, making the monetary

system extremely complicated.

In order to solve this problem, the new Swiss Federal Constitution of 1848 specified

that the Federal Government would be the only entity allowed to make money in

Switzerland. This was followed two years later by the first Federal Coinage Act,

passed by the Federal Assembly on 7 May 1850, which introduced the franc as the

monetary unit of Switzerland. The franc was introduced at par with the French franc.

It replaced the different currencies of the Swiss cantons, some of which had been

using a franc (divided into 10 batzen and 100 rappen) which was worth 1½ French

franc.

In 1865, France, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland formed the Latin Monetary Union,

wherein they agreed to value their national currencies to a standard of 4.5 grams of

silver or 0.290322 grams of gold. Even after the monetary union faded away in the

1920s and officially ended in 1927, the Swiss franc remained on that standard until

1936, when it suffered its sole devaluation, on 27 September during the Great

Depression. The currency was devalued by 30% following the devaluations of

the British pound, U.S. dollar and French franc. In 1945, Switzerland joined

the Bretton Woods system and pegged the franc to the U.S. dollar at a rate of $1 =

4.30521 francs (equivalent to 1 franc = 0.206418 grams of gold). This was changed

to $1 = 4.375 francs (1 franc = 0.203125 grams of gold) in 1949.

The Swiss franc has historically been considered a safe haven currency with

virtually zero inflation and a legal requirement that a minimum of 40% be backed

by gold reserves. However, this link to gold, which dates from the 1920s, was

terminated on 1 May 2000 following a referendum. By March 2005, following a gold

selling program, the Swiss National Bank held 1,290 tonnes of gold in reserves

which equated to 20% of its assets.

Coins

(Coins of the Helvetic Republic)

Between 1798 and 1803, billon coins were issued in denominations of 1 rappen, ½

batzen, and 1 batzen. Silver coins were issued for 5, 10, 20 and 40 batzen, with the

40 batzen coin also issued with the denomination given as 4 franken. Gold 16 and

32 franc coins were issued in 1800.

(Coins of the Swiss Confederation)

In 1850, coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 centimes and

½, 1, 2, and 5 francs, with the 1 and 2 centimes struck in bronze, the 5, 10, and 20

centimes in billon, and the franc denominations in .900 fine silver. Between 1860

and 1863, .800 fine silver was used, before the standard used in France of .835

fineness was adopted for all silver coins except the 5 francs (which remained .900

fineness) in 1875. In 1879, billon was replaced by cupro-nickel in the 5 and 10

centimes and by nickel in the 20 centimes.

Both world wars only had a small effect on the Swiss coinage, with brass and zinc

coins temporarily being issued. In 1931, the size of the 5 franc coin was reduced

from 25 grams to 15, with the silver content reduced to .835 fineness. The next

year, nickel replaced cupro-nickel in the 5 and 10 centimes.

In the late 1960s, due to their linkage to the devaluing U.S. dollar, the prices of

internationally traded commodities rose significantly. A silver coin's material value

exceeded its monetary value, and many were being sent abroad for melting, which

prompted the federal government to make this practice illegal. The statute was of

little effect, and the melting of francs only subsided when the collectible value of

the remaining francs again exceeded their material value.

The 1 centime coin was still produced until 2006, albeit in ever decreasing

quantities, but it did not play any great role in the monetary economy in the fourth

quarter of the twentieth century (circa 1975 to 2000). People and groups who could

justify the use of 1 centime coins for monetary purposes could obtain them at face

value; any other user (such as collectors) had to pay an additional 4 centimes per

coin to cover the production costs, which had exceeded the actual face value of the

coin for many years. The coin fell into disuse in the late 1970s and early 1980s but

was only officially fully withdrawn from circulation and declared to be no longer

legal tender as of 1 January 2007. The long-forgotten 2 centime coin, not minted

since 1974, was demonetized January 1st, 1978.

The 5 centime coin remains in use, in circulation and still legal tender for the time

being notwithstanding the production cost of 11 centimes per coin. One of the main

reasons why the Confederation cannot discontinue this coin is that it is still used in

the pricing of goods and services, particularly the 85 centime second class stamp.

The Swiss Post is looking into the possibility of a price rise or the elimination of the

second class service, which could ultimately pave the way for the elimination of the

5 centime coin therewith.

The designs of the coins have changed very little since 1879. Among the notable

changes were new designs for the 5 franc coins in 1888, 1922, 1924 (minor) and

1931 (mostly just a size reduction). A new design for the bronze coins was used

from 1948. Coins depicting a ring of stars (such as the 1 franc coin seen beside this

paragraph) were modified from 22 stars to 23 stars in 1983; since the stars

represent the Swiss cantons, it was updated to represent the 1979 expansion of the

Swiss federation, when Jura seceded from the Canton of Bern and became the 23rd

canton.

The 10 centime coins from 1879 onwards (except the years 1918-19 and 1932-39)

have the same composition, size and design until now (2009) and are still legal

tender and are found in circulation.

All Swiss coins are language-neutral (at least with respect to Switzerland's four

national languages), featuring only numerals, the abbreviation "Fr." for franc, and

the Latin phrases "Helvetia", "Confœderatio Helvetica" (depending on the

denomination) or the inscription "Libertas" (roman goddess of liberty) on the small

coins. The name of the artist is present on the coins with the standing Helvetia an

the herder.

In addition to these general circulation coins, numerous series of commemorative

coins have been issued, as well

as silver and gold coins. These coins are

no more legal tender, but can be exchanged for face value at post offices, and at

national and cantonal banks. Their material or collector's value equals or exceeds

their face value.

(10 Centimes)

(1 Franc)

Overview of current Swiss coins

ValueDiamete

r(mm)

Thickness

(mm)

Weight

(g)Composition Remarks

5 centimes 17.15 1.25 1.8Aluminium bronze

Made in Cupronickel or pure Nickel until 1980

10 centimes

19.15 1.45 3 CupronickelMade in current minting since 1879

20 centimes

21.05 1.65 4 Cupronickel

1/2 franc(50 centimes)

18.20 1.25 2.2 Cupronickel In silver until 1967

1 franc 23.20 1.55 4.4 Cupronickel In silver until 1967

2 francs 27.40 2.15 8.8 Cupronickel In silver until 1967

5 francs 31.45 2.35 13.2 CupronickelIn silver until 1967 and in 1969

Banknotes

In 1907, the Swiss National Bank took over the issuance of banknotes from the

cantons and various banks. It introduced denominations of 50, 100, 500 and 1000

francs. 20 franc notes were introduced in 1911, followed by 5 franc notes in 1913. In

1914, the Federal Treasury issued paper money in denominations of 5, 10 and 20

francs. These notes were issued in three different versions: French, German and

Italian. The State Loan Bank also issued 25 franc notes that year. In 1952, the

National Bank ceased issuing 5 franc notes but introduced 10 franc notes in 1955. In

1996, 200 franc notes were introduced whilst the 500 franc note was discontinued.

Eight series of banknotes have been printed by the National Bank, six of which have

been released for use by the general public. The sixth series from 1976, designed

by Ernst and Ursula Hiestand, depicted persons from the world of science. It has

been recalled and replaced and will lose any value on 1 May 2020. As of 2006, a

large number of notes from this series have not yet been exchanged, even though

they have not been legal tender for more than 5 years; for example, the value of

those 500 franc banknotes still in circulation represents 167.4 million Swiss francs.

The seventh series was printed in 1984, but kept as a "reserve series", ready to be

used if, for example, wide counterfeiting of the current series suddenly happened.

When the Swiss National Bank decided to develop new security features and to

abandon the concept of a reserve series, the details of the seventh series were

released and the printed notes were destroyed.

The current, eighth series of banknotes was designed by Jörg Zintzmeyer around

the theme of the arts and released starting in 1995. In addition to a new design, this

series was different from the previous one on several counts. Probably the most

important difference from a practical point of view was that the seldom-used 500

franc note was replaced by a new 200 franc note; this new note has indeed proved

more successful than the old 500 franc note. The base colours of the new notes

were kept similar to the old ones, except that the 20 franc note was changed from

blue to red to prevent a frequent confusion with the 100 franc note, and that the 10

franc note was changed from red to yellow. The size of the notes was changed as

well, with all notes from the 8th series having the same height (74 mm), while the

widths were changed as well, still increasing with the value of the notes. The new

series contains many more security features than the previous one; many (but not

all) of them are now visibly displayed and have been widely advertised, in contrast

with the previous series for which most of the features were kept secret.

All banknotes are quadrilingual, displaying all information in the four national

languages. The banknotes depicting a Germanophone display German and

Romansch on the same side as his picture, whereas banknotes depicting a

Francophone or an Italophone display French and Italian on the same side as his

picture.

When the 5th series lost its validity at the end of April 2000, the banknotes that had

not been exchanged represented a total value of 244.3 million Swiss francs; in

accordance with Swiss law, this amount was transferred to the Swiss Fund for

Emergency Losses in the case of non-insurable natural disasters.

In February 2005, a competition was announced for the design of the 9th series,

planned to be released around 2010 on the theme Switzerland open to the world.

The results were announced in November 2005, but the selected design drew

widespread criticisms from the population.

8th (Current) series of Swiss banknotes

Value Dimensions Main Colour Obverse Date of issue

10 francs 126 × 74 mm Yellow Le Corbusier 8 April 1997

20 francs 137 × 74 mm Red Arthur Honegger 1 October 1996

50 francs 148 × 74 mm Green Sophie Taeuber-Arp 3 October 1995

100 francs 159 × 74 mm Blue Alberto Giacometti 1 October 1998

1000 francs 181 × 74 mm Purple Jacob Burckhardt 1 April 1998

Eighth Series

Eighth Series

Ninth Series

In 2005, the Swiss National Bank held a competition to determine the design

of the next series of banknotes. The competition was won by Manuel Krebs, but his

designs were met with sufficient opposition from the general public as to discourage

the bank from going forward with them. As a result, the ninth series of Swiss franc

banknotes will be based on designs by second place finalist Manuela Pfrunder and is

scheduled to be issued in 2010.

Previous Series

Of

Swiss Banknotes

1st series of Swiss banknotes

Value

Dimensions

Main Color

Description Date of

Obverse

Reverse issuewithdrawa

llapse

50 francs

166 × 103 mm

Green/Yellow

HelvetiaOrnaments

20

Jun

e 1

90

7

1 July

19

25

1 July

19

45100

francs183 × 116 mm

Blue HelvetiaOrnaments

500 francs

199 × 126 mm

Green HelvetiaOrnaments

1000 francs

215 × 132 mm

Purple HelvetiaOrnaments

First Series

First Series

2nd series of Swiss banknotes

Value

Dimensions

Main Color

Description Date of

Obverse Reverse issuewithdrawa

llapse

5 francs

148 × 70 mm

Brown/Green William Tell Ornaments3 August 1914

1 May 19801 May 2000

10 francs

135 × 82 mm

Brown/YellowWoman from Neuchâtel

Ornaments — — —

20 francs

163 × 95 mm

Blue/purple Vreneli Ornaments31 July 1914

31 December 1935

1 January 1956

50 francs

165 × 106 mm

Green Woman's head Woodcutter22 December 1911

1 October 1958

1 October 1978

100 francs

181 × 115 mm

Dark blue Woman's head Reaper16 September 1911

1 October 1958

1 October 1978

500 francs

200 × 125 mm

Red/Brown Woman's head Embroideres

24 December

1 October 1 Octobe

1912 1958 r 1978

1000 francs

216 × 131 mm

Purple/Orange

Woman's head Foundry16 September 1911

1 October 1958

1 October 1978

Second Series

Second Series

4th series of Swiss banknotes

Value DimensionsMain Color

DescriptionDate of issue

Obverse Reverse

50 francs 167 × 96 mm Green Woman's head Bull

Never

issu

ed

(re

serv

e s

eri

es)

100 francs190 × 106 mm

BlueWoman from Haslital

Ornaments

500 francs210 × 116 mm

Brown-red Woman's head Chemistry

1000 francs

228 × 125 mm

Purple Woman's head Turbine

*The fourth series of Swiss banknotes was printed in 1938 as a reserve series and

was never issued.

Fourth Series

Fourth Series

5th series of Swiss banknotes

Value DimensionsMain

Colour

Description

Designer

Date of

Obverse Reverse issue withdrawal lapse

10 francs

137 × 75 mm

Red-brown

Gottfried Keller

Bennet blossoms

Hermann Eidenbenz

1 October 1956

1 May 19801 May 2000

20 francs

155 × 85 mm

BlueGuillaume-Henri Dufour

Thistle29 March 1956

50 francs

173 × 95 mm

Green Head of a girlApple harvest

Pierre Gauchat

14 June 1957

100 francs

191 × 105 mm

Dark blue

Head of a boy

St Martin14 June 1957

500 francs

210 × 115 mm

Brown-red

Head of a woman

Fountain of Youth

14 June 1957

1000 francs

228 × 125 mm

PurpleHead of woman

Danse Macabre

14 June 1957

Fifth Series Fifth Series

6th series of Swiss banknotes

ValueDimension

sMain Color

Description Date of

Obverse Reverse issue

10 francs

137 × 66 mm

RedLeonhard Euler

Water turbine, the solar system and a scheme of propagation of rays of light passing through lenses

5 November 1979

20 francs

148 × 70 mm

BlueHorace-Bénédict de Saussure

Mountain range, a group of alpinists and the Ammonshorn

4 April 1979

50 francs

159 × 74 mm

GreenConrad Gessner

Eagle owl, primula, stars4 October 1978

100 francs

170 × 78 mm

Dark blue

Francesco Borromini

Upper part of the dome-tower as well as the floor plan of the churchSant'Ivo alla Sapienza

4 October 1976

500 francs

181 × 82 mm

BrownAlbrecht von Haller

Muscular figure of a human body, graph of respiration and the circulation of the blood, and a purple orchis

4 April 1977

1000 francs

192 × 86 mm

PurpleAuguste Forel

Three ants and a cross-section of an anthill

4 April 1978

Sixth Series

Sixth Series

7th series of Swiss banknotes

Value Dimensions Main Description

Color Obverse Reverse

10 francs

137 × 66 mm Red-brown

Leonhard Euler; development of the polyhedron, the bridges of Königsberg

Gamma function; table for the calculation of numbers; diagram of the Solar System

20 francs

148 × 70 mm BlueHorace-Bénédict de Saussure;quartz crystals; Hornblende beam

Hair hygrometer, view of the valley of Chamonix and the Mont Blanc massif; expedition to the Tacul glacier

50 francs 159 × 74 mm Green

Conrad Gessner; branch of adwarf cherry tree; foliage of the bush

Golden Eagle (based on a woodcut from Gessner's Historiae animalium); "Metamorphosis of animals"; Latin text from the Historiae Animalium referring to the seven-headed hydra

100 francs 170 × 78 mm

Dark blue

Francesco Borromini; architectural motif from the Basilica of St. John Lateran

Raising of the lantern and the spire of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza; floor plan of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane; dove and olive branch

500 francs

181 × 82 mm BrownAlbrecht von Haller;hexagonalstructure of the cell; cell tissue

18th century anatomy plate; x-ray of the human thorax; mountains, referring to his poem "The Alps"

1000 francs 192 × 86 mm Purple

Louis Agassiz; structure of the surface of a shellfish

Head, skeleton and fossil of a perch; structure of the scales of a perch; ammonite

*A seventh series of Swiss banknotes has been designed and printed in 1984, in

parallel with the sixth series, but was never released. It formed the reserve series,

to be released, for example, if the current series would suddenly become widely

counterfeited. At first, almost no information was released on the series for security

reasons, except for small fragments. However, after the eighth series was released,

it was decided to improve the security features of the current series rather than

develop a new reserve series. The details of the seventh series were later released,

while the actual banknotes were destroyed.. The designers were Roger

Pfund and Elisabeth Pfund. They had originally won the competition for the design

of the sixth series, but since the Swiss National Bank decided to use the design by

Ernst and Ursula Hiestand instead, the Pfunds were charged with the design of the

reserve series.

Seventh Series

Seventh Series

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_franc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Swiss_franc

Personal Thoughts

Whew. Finally done! I got tired copying all those pictures. They sure got interesting money history. Anyway, while I was in the middle of the project, I suddenly got confused of which country should I have used in this project—Switzerland or Mexico? Hmm. I can’t seem to make up my mind, so I just continued searching for the currency history of Switzerland. (Hopefully its right, but if not, I’m willing to do one again for the sake of knowing and for the sake of higher grades!) And there you have it! ;) Btw, I just got the entrance examination results from DLSU- Manila and I’m really happy that I made it! I thought it was going to be my first major disappointment this year 2010.

Upon searching the net, I found out the history of money itself. Of course, before money came, people exchanged goods for other goods which we know as the barter system. Then, Ancient China and Africa used cowry shells like they were coins. From what I can recall, it is called commodity money. I also learned that a “shekel” was an ancient unit of currency, and at the same time it is also a unit of weight. Then people began to use coins and eventually used paper bills. Oh yeah, paper bills (cash) are called fiat money. And the latest money today, credit money like cheques and electronic transfers. (http://currency-history.blogspot.com/) Ok, now let’s go on with what I’ve learned about Swiss Franc. Hmm. Swiss Franc is denoted from CHF or Confoederatio Helvetica Franc. A Swiss Franc is equal to 0.96609 USD, which is also equal to P44.5759. Also, some of its previous series weren’t issued.

And now, its time to thank people! I thank God, first of all, for blessing me with knowledge and guiding me in my works. I thank Sir John for allowing us to explore different things and nurturing our minds. I thank Partner (Margaret) for informing us about the project early.

“Information is the oxygen of modern age.”–Former US President, Ronald Reagan

_______________Maeh Lorenz