Twenty Centimes (Rappen), Nickel, Coin Type from Switzerland - detailed information

The Twenty Centimes coin is a small circulating denomination of the Swiss Franc. Given that Switzerland has four official languages, the sub-unit of the Franc has four different names; it is centime (c.) in French, Rappen (Rp.) in German, centesimo (ct.) in Italian and rap (rp.) in Romansh. Some English-language catalogues call the coin a 20 Rappen coin, but the English-language publications of the Swiss National Bank and Swissmint prefer the term 20 centimes.

The first version of the 20 centimes / rappen coin was designed by Carl Friedrich Voigt of the Munich Mint (then Royal Bavarian Mint). On the obverse it featured the Swiss Coat of Arms (a rendering quite different from that on the One Centime and Two Centimes denominations released at the same time but designed by Alexander Hutter), on two flower (Alpine rose) branches. The reverse shows the value (only a numeral, no text) within a flower wreath. This original reverse has remained unchanged and is still used on current coins. This version was lighter (3.25 grams) and made of billon (an alloy with a very low quantity of silver), the composition of which varied through the years.

The first version was issued only until 1859 and was demonetised on 30th June 1886.

In 1881, the obverse was changed to a design by Karl Schwenzer featuring the effigy of Libertas. The metal was changed to pure nickel and the coin became heavier (4 grams). The nickel version was issued until 1938 and circulated until it was finally demonetised on 1st January 2004. Current 20 centime coins are made of cupro-nickel; this version was first issued in 1939 and is still currently produced.