Five Francs 1977 Heinrich Pestalozzi, 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.

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.

The 1977 Five Francs commemorative coin marks 150 years since the death of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi.

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746 - 1827) was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach. He founded several educational institutions both in German- and French-speaking regions of Switzerland and wrote many works explaining his revolutionary modern principles of education. His motto was "Learning by head, hand and heart". Thanks to Pestalozzi, illiteracy in 18th-century Switzerland was overcome almost completely by 1830.

5 Fr. coins issued in 1977 have now been in circulation for 47 years.