Monday, June 29, 2009

Swiss 10 francs 2009




Since 1936, the Swiss Confederation has been issuing commemorative coins to mark significant historical and cultural events, or to honor outstanding personalities. Tribute is also paid to typical aspects of Swiss cultural life.True to tradition, commemorative coins are the work of Swiss artists. In collaboration with the Federal Office of Culture, Swiss mint commissions the design of new coins and also organizes design competitions.These special-issue coins bear a legal face value and are minted in limited editions. They are available in the qualities 'polished plate' (proof) and 'uncirculated'. The Swiss Confederation uses the net proceeds from the sale of commemorative coins to promote cultural projects throughout Switzerland.

Prior to the definitive striking of a coin, trial minting are frequently carried out with provisionally engraved mint dies. Among other things, the procedure of trial minting facilitates quality control of the dies, the minting process, the flow of metal, as well as verification of the suitability of the minting blanks. In earlier times, trial pieces struck before the actual minting process began were – with few exceptions – destroyed.In 1998, Swiss mint decided to sell limited quantities of trial coins at irregular intervals. These coins bear a special signet to unambiguously differentiate them from regularly minted coinage. This distinctive marking stamped on the relief is in the form of a ¾-circle open at the upper left, featuring a stylized Swiss cross in the middle. The letter E in italics to the upper left stands for essay, or trial. As trial coins are the result of test minting, the quality of these pieces is not in every case identical to that of the definitively struck coin.Annual circulation coin sets comprise all currently circulated denominations from the 1-centime piece to the 5-franc piece. These coin sets additionally include a bimetal commemorative coin bearing a legal face value of 10 Swiss francs. The annual circulation coin sets are available in polished plate (proof) and brilliant uncirculated minting qualities.





obverse

Swiss National Park – Red deer
Niklaus Heeb, Rodersdorf


reverse


10-franc piece, bimetal, with legal face value


Alloy: Aluminium Bronze (Cu 92/Al 6/Ni 2) + Cupronickel (Cu 75/Ni 25)
Diameter: 33 mm
Weight: 15 g
Uncirculated max 95.000
Proof max 12.000


Source http://www.swissmint.ch/