The Twenty 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.
In regular circulation, the denomination is served by a banknote. These coins are non-circulating legal tender made for collectors. They are issued in topical series, celebrating various aspects of Swiss heritage or nature.
The edge is usually inscribed with the motto DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT (The Lord will provide - a quote from the Bible, Genesis 22, 8), and thirteen stars representing the original thirteen cantons of the Swiss Federation.
This coin is the first of two releases honouring the Swiss Shooting Sport Federation on the occasion of its upcoming 200th anniversary.
The Swiss Shooting Sport Federation (German: Schweizer Schiesssportverband - SSSV, French: Fédération sportive suisse de tir - FFST), is an association for sport shooting in Switzerland. It was founded in its current form in 2001, but has roots as far back as in 1824. It is associated with the International Shooting Sport Federation and the European Shooting Confederation.
The Schweizerischer Schützenverein (SSV) was founded in 1824 during the Swiss Restoration, in the wake of the collapse of the Helvetic Republic seen as a means to return to the martial prowess of the Old Swiss Confederacy, e.g. in Gottfried Kellers Das Fähnlein der sieben Aufrechten, where before the background of the Schützenfest of 1849 in Aarau, the shooting clubs are portrayed as a vigorous "radical" grass roots movement vital for the preservation of direct democracy in the young Swiss federal state.
In 1995, the SSV merged with the Swiss Revolver and Pistol Shooting Association (German: Schweizerische Revolver-und Pistolen-Schützenverbandes, SRPV).
In 2002 the Swiss Shooting Federation was founded in its current form through the merger of the Swiss Shooting Association (Schweizerischer Schützenverein, SSV) with the formerly independent Swiss Sport Shooting Association (Schweizerischer Sportschützenverband, SSSV) and the Swiss Workers Shooting Association (Schweizerischer Arbeiterschützen-Bund, SASB). |