Five Francs 1924, Coin 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.

The first version of the five francs coin featured a seated figure of Helvetia; in 1888, this was changed to a new design with the reverse showing a shield within a wreath, and the obverse featuring a portrait of the symbolic figure Helvetia. Unlike the smaller denominations, its metal was not debased.

This changed again in 1922, to the current design by Paul Burkhard with a re-designed shield on the reverse and the figure of an Alpine herdsman on the obverse. The specifications of the Latin Monetary Union were kept: 25 grams weight, 0.900 silver and 0.100 copper. These and the older coins continued to circulate until all three large silver types were superseded by a smaller silver 5 Francs piece.

Coins issued in 1924 circulated for 10 years before they were demonetised on 1st February 1934.