Five Francs, Commemorative (Silver), 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 to 0.835 silver / 0.165 copper.

Starting in 1936, the country also occasionally issued circulating commemorative one-year type 5 Franc coins to mark various important occasions. These had the same dimensions and silver content as those of the regular type. Together with them, they were demonetised on 1st April 1971 when silver was abandoned and the current CuproNickel 5 Fr. coins became the only 5 Francs in circulation.