Friday 17 December 2021

Helvetia Head (Vreneli) 20 Swiss Francs Gold Coin

 The Vreneli gold coin is the informal make known of a series of gold coins made in Switzerland. The coin is known by a variety of names, formally as Helvetia Head (English) Tte d'Helvetia (French) or Helvetiakopf (German). Informally it is a.k.a. Vreneli, Helvetia, Swiss Miss or just as a Gold 20 Swiss Francs. The Vreneli is a bullion gold coin but does have numismatic supporters too.


The coins were issued together together along in addition to 1897 and 1936, in 1947 and in 1949. The coin ceased to be genuine throbbing in 1936 and the complete one coins issued after 1936 are restrikes.


The series consisted of 10, 20 and 100 Swiss franc coins. The 20 francs is by in the estrange the most popular. The 100 franc coin was without help made in 1925 later a little matter of 5000. Over the series nearly 61 million coins have been produced.


All the coins were made in 90% gold (millesimal fineness of 900).


The Obverse shows the head of a teen woman considering clearly the words 'HELVETIA' written above. The female figure has platted hair and her shoulders are covered following a garment. In the background are the Swiss mountains.


The reverse of the 20 franc coin shows the Swiss shield, featuring the Swiss Cross, and a wreath of oak tied once ribbons along as well as than the denomination on the subject of the left (in this court conflict 20) and the currency approximately the right (FR for Swiss Francs).


One Coin, Many Names


The design was by Fritz Ulysse Landry in 1895 and it is thought the model for the obverse was Franoise Engli.


The coin is known as Helvetia due to the single inscription upon the obverse. Helvetia is the female national personification of Switzerland, officially Confderatio Helvetica, the Swiss Confederation. Helvetia is plus a variation of the attributed Latin statement of Switzerland.


The publication Vreneli is even even if to derive from Verena, choice personification of the Confederation of Switzerland in the female effigy (same to the American Lady Liberty). This is why the coins are sometimes colloquially called Swiss Miss.

For more info Diamanten Kassel.

The coins were minted at the Swiss Mint at Bern (although the die was engraved at the Paris mint). The coins carry a mint mark of a "B" (without a dot) for Bern. The restrikes have a mintmark of "L".


The 20 franc coin specification is:


Diameter: 21 mm

Thickness: 1.25 mm

Weight: 6.45g, consequently gold content is 5.805g or 0.1866 oz

The 10 franc coin weighs 3.23g and has 2.9g of unqualified gold. 

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