10 Swiss Francs Half Vreneli | Gold | 1911-1922

10 Swiss Francs Half Vreneli Gold 1911-1922

While Switzerland issued 20 francs from 1886 to 1949, its smaller cousin the 10 franc was only issued from 1911 to 1922, and even then only in seven of the twelve years, none being issued from 1917 to 1921 inclusive. The only design type being the “Vrenelli” head with “HELVETIA” above on the obverse. The only difference between this and the 20 franc obverse is the size of the mountains!

The reverse has a Swiss cross on a sunburst above a spray of alpine flowers, which we think are gentians, but possibly also edelweiss. In the centre is the value shown as 10 FR, and the date in another slightly lower line. The mintmark “B”, for Bern, is below the flowers.

The mintage figures are generally much lower than for the 20 francs, also “small change” tends to suffer from greater wear and tear than their larger counterparts. A good example for this is that low denomination banknotes always get tattier more quickly than high value ones

Whereas Swiss 20 francs are a very commonly encountered gold bullion coin, we hardly ever see large quantities of 10 francs, and when we do, the condition is often more variable.