Five Francs, Commemorative (CuproNickel), Coin Type from Switzerland - detailed information

The Five Francs coin is a circulating denomination of the Swiss Franc. Given that Switzerland has four official languages, the Franc has three different names: Franken in German, franc in French and Romansh, and franco in Italian. Initially when federal Swiss coinage was introduced in 1850, all "francs" (including the half franc) were full-bodied silver, while the centimes were either billon (low-grade silver) or base metal.

Normal circulating coins went through several transformations: with a seated figure of Helvetia on the obverse, then a portrait of Helvetia, then the current design by Paul Burkhard. The earliest coins were issued with the specifications of the Latin Monetary Union until in 1931 when the coins were made smaller and the content was slightly debased. Starting in 1936, the country also occasionally issued circulating commemorative one-year type 5 Franc coins in silver to mark various important occasions.

After these were demonetised in 1971 and the denomination became copper-nickel (CuproNickel), Swissimint issued an extensive series of commemoratives between 1974 and 1990 (in parallel with the regular design), after which time it stopped issuing commemoratives in this denomination and returned to the regular design only.

CuproNickel commemorative 5 Francs issued between 1985 and 1990 had incuse edge lettering (cut into the metal and not in relief as the later ones). Due to extensive forgeries, they were withdrawn from circulation and demonetised on 1st January 2004. Coins issued in other years are still current and circulate in Switzerland.