Switzerland 1995 500 francs
This specimen was lot 4452 in Sincona sale 51 (Zürich, October 2018), where it sold for 1,700 CHF (about US$2,051 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"500 Franken 1995. Thun. Eidgenössisches Schützenfest. Polierte Platte. FDC. (Swiss confederation, five hundred francs of 1995, Thun shooting festival. Choice Proof.)"
This NCLT was issued for the Bern shooting festival. Shooting festival medals/coins are a Swiss tradition going back before confederation in 1848. The early ones (before World War One) were struck to the standard of a silver five francs and circulated as such even tho they bore no denomination. Later ones are strictly collector items with no face value and should be classed as medals, not coins. They are not listed in the regular SCWC. This one is accompanied by a silver fifty francs (KM XS46).
Recorded mintage: 500.
Specification: 13 g, 0.999 fine gold; this specimen 13.02 g.
Catalog reference: KM XS47, Fr-514d, Häberling 50.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Unusual World Coins, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2011.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Richter, Jürg, and Ruedi Kunzmann, Neuer HMZ-Katalog, Band 2: Die Münzen der Schweiz und Liechtensteins 15//16. Jahrhundert bis Gegenwart, Regenstauf, Germany: H. Gietl Verlag GmbH, 2006.
- [1]Richter, Jürg, Sincona Auction 51: Gold and Silver Coins and Medals; Coins and Medals from Switzerland, Zürich: SINCONA AG, 2018.
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