Five Francs 1989 Henri Guisan, 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 1989 Five Francs commemorative coin marks the 50th anniversary of the 1939 Mobilisation (German: Mobilmachung) of Switzerland for war, and features General Henri Guisan as its symbol.

Gen. Henri Guisan (1874 - 1960) was a Swiss army officer who held the office of the General of the Swiss Armed Forces during the Second World War. He was the fourth and the most recent man to be appointed to the rarely used Swiss rank of General, and was possibly Switzerland's most famous soldier. He is best remembered for effectively mobilising the Swiss Armed Forces and Swiss people in 1939 in order to prepare resistance against a possible invasion by Nazi Germany in 1940.

On 28 August 1939, a Federal Assembly called a United Federal Assembly to elect a General: a unique rank chosen only in time of war or national emergency. On 30 August 1939, Guisan was elected as General. He was given the directive to safeguard the independence of the country and to maintain the integrity of the Swiss territory. In 1939 the Swiss military could muster 430,000 men, approximately 20% of the work force. At one point, up to 850,000 Swiss soldiers were mobilised.

General Guisan developed his famous Réduit National (National Redoubt) concept in summer 1940, according to which the Swiss Army would have retreated into the Alps relatively soon if attacked, but would have kept up resistance based on some sort of guerilla and stay-behind tactics from there. The Swiss paramilitary organization Aktion Nationaler Widerstand (Resistant National Action), formed from contacts between selected army figures and conservative civilian circles, had the explicit task to persuade the civilian population to resist invaders. However, Guisan's and Switzerland's main strategy was deterrence rather than fighting, and Germany never risked invasion. On 20 August 1945, General Guisan left his command, considering his mission to be fulfilled.

Coins issued in 1989 had incuse edge lettering (cut into the metal and not in relief as the later ones). Due to extensive forgeries, they were withdrawn from circulation and demonetised on 1st January 2004; thus, they circulated for less than 15 years.