The Ten Francs coin is a 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.
The normal circulating 5 FR denomination was supplemented by circulating commemorative one-year type 5 Franc coins in silver and copper-nickel.
In 1999, Swissimint changed the concept and started striking non-circulating commemoratives for collectors only, which were bimetallic 5 Francs at first. After only six coins were issued in the first five years, this format was discontinued. Further non-circulating bimetallic coins are now denominated as 10 Francs, such as those listed below. They share a common obverse designed by Roland Hirter. It is worth mentioning that some sources consider it the other way round, and call the commemorative part the obverse; however, we are going with the standard definition, which is that "obverse" is the side which specifies the issuing authority.
The 10 Francs are bimetallic and have the same dimensions as the bimetallic 5 Francs, but their colours are reversed: with an Aluminium Bronze outer ring (92% copper, 6% Aluminium, 2% Nickel) and a copper-nickel inner circle (75% copper, 25% nickel). They are issued in topical series, celebrating various aspects of Swiss heritage or nature. |
