Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 20 Rappen 1850-1859, KM# 7, Switzerland
  • 20 Rappen 1850-1859, KM# 7, Switzerland
Description

Engraver: Karl Friedrich Voigt

Obverse

The Swiss escutcheon surrounded by flowers and the inscription "HELVETIA" (Switzerland) above and date below.

Strasbourg Mint (1850, 1851): data surrounded by the privy marks of Renouard de Bussière (bee, Strasbourg Mint) and Jacques-Jean Barré (dog's head, Barré was chief engraver of ​Monnaie de Paris and was thus responsible for the production of certain Swiss coins).

The white cross has been used as the field sign (attached to the clothing of combattants and to the cantonal war flags in the form of strips of linen) of the Old Swiss Confederacy since its formation in the late 13th or early 14th century. Its symbolism was described by the Swiss Federal Council in 1889 as representing "at the same the Christian cross symbol and the field sign of the Old Confederacy". The federal coat of arms was defined in 1815 for the Restored Confederacy as the white-on-red Swiss cross in a heraldic shield. The white cross is known as the Swiss cross. Its arms are equilateral, and their ratio of length to width is 7:6.

The name Helvetica is a derivation of the ethnonym Helvetii, the name of the Gaulish tribe inhabiting the Swiss Plateau prior to the Roman conquest.

HELVETIA
1850

Reverse

Numeral within flower wreath. Mintmark below bow.

20
BB

Edge

20 Rappen

KM# 7
Characteristics
Material Silver
Fineness 0.000
Weight 3.25 g
Diameter 21.05 mm
Thickness 1.03 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mints
Bern Mint
Strasbourg Mint (BB)

Related coins

Magnetic

Nickel, 4 g, ⌀ 21.05 mm

Cupronickel, 4 g, ⌀ 21.05 mm