Ten Francs 2022 Morteratsch Glacier, Coin from Switzerland - detailed information

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.

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.

The 2022 Ten Francs collector coin features the Morteratsch Glacier, which is one of the larger glaciers in the Alps and the largest in the Bernina region in the canton of Graubünden. It reached its peak extension during the Little Ice Age of the mid-19th century. Since then it has receded by about three kilometres in length, shrinking by about 40 metres a year. Melt water flowing down has caused several caves to form under the glacier tongue, the end of the ice stream. In earlier times, the Morteratsch glacier stretched down into the valley, which is why it is also referred to as a valley glacier. Today, the glacier is still around 6.4km long and covers an area of 14.9km2.

The coin is the first in a planned mini-series of three issues featuring Swiss glaciers.

Bimetallic 10 Franc coins are legal tender but are issued in small quantities for collectors only and do not circulate.