Description

The canton of Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the river Ticino, it is the only canton where Italian is the sole official language and represents the bulk of the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland along with the southern parts of Graubünden.

The land now occupied by the canton was annexed from Italian cities in the 15th century by various Swiss forces in the last transalpine campaigns of the Old Swiss Confederacy. In the Helvetic Republic, established in 1798, it was divided between the two new cantons of Bellinzona and Lugano. The creation of the Swiss Confederation in 1803 saw these two cantons combine to form the modern canton of Ticino.

This is the only thaler struck for Ticino between the departure of the French (1815) and confederation (1848). It is variously catalogued as a thaler, a four franken and a forty batzen, all much the same thing.

The Ticinese franco (plural: franchi) was the currency of the Swiss canton of Ticino between 1813 and 1850. It was subdivided into 20 soldi (singular: soldo), each of 12 denari (singular denaro), similar to the British pounds, shillings and pence system.