Trivia: Shutzenfeste!

Clinker · 09-20-2007, 11:21 AM

Schutzenfeste:

I was hoping you'd read this trivia. Just imagine you and me taking a numismatic trip back in time to the year 1857 during a magical time located in Berne, Switzerland, the land of the annual Schutzenfeste.

Look at all the people in town wanting to celebrate this festive occasion.

Before you get wrapped up in all the excitement, let me point out that Schutzenfeste in English is Shooting Festival. It is an annual traditional festival celebrated in the Swiss Cantons, Northwest regions of Germany as well as in Bavaria. It is a kind of local fair featuring a shooting match among members of the local marksmen's association and usually takes place in summer.

At a Schützenfeste, contestants compete their shooting abilities, for example by shooting at a wooden representation of an eagle. The winner of the competition becomes the 'Schützenkönig' ("king of marksmen") until the next year's competition.

Since this is 1857, you'll notice, that all the participants in the shootout are carrying their own rifles. The first Shooting Festival was held way back in the 15th century using crossbows.

These festivals proved to be very lucrative for the individual cantons, so a Federal Shooting Festival (Eidgenossiche) was initiated in 1824 and was held in the following cantons:

After 1798 Shooting Festival coins are in Francs, not Thalers and some of those after 1935 do not contain silver.

NOTE: (FROM WIKIPEDIA) "The Thaler was the currency of the Swiss canton of Berne until 1798. It was subdivided into 40 Batzen, each of 4 Kreuzer. It was replaced by the Frank of the Helvetian Republic in 1798. This was, in turn, replaced by the Berne Frank."
1834 Zurich
1838 Saint Gallen
1843 Chur
1849 Aarau and future festivals will be held in the following cantons during the dates noted:

1861 Stans
1867 Schwyz
1874 Saint Gallen
1885 Berne and Kirchenfeld
1890 Frauenfeld
1904 Saint Gallen
1907 Zurich
1910 Berne and Wankdorffeld
1924 Aarau
1929 Bellinzona
1940 Lucerne
1947 Chur
1954 Lausanne
1958 Biel
1963 Zurich
1969 Thun
1972 Biel
1977 Zurich
1985 Chur
1990Winterthur
1995 Thun
2000 Biere
2005 Frauenfeld

Come with me into this beer garden. Notice the silver coins being offered by the customers are silver dollar-sized and are called Thalers.

Thalers were the coin of much of Europe for about 400 years, but eventually they'll give way to the frank. During that 400 year period, all cantons in Switzerland minted their own coinage including the Berne Thaler.

Thus, you have Berne Thalers, Saint Gallen Thalers, Zurich Thalers and all cantons in Switzerland plus these German States: Bad Berle, North Rhine, Westphalia, Biberac an der Ricf, Baden Wurttemberg, Hannover, Lower Saxony, Neuss, Hovelhof, Oestinghausen, Rietberg, Salzkotten, and Balve.

Here's the obverse of a Solothurn 1855 Thaler:

Images courtesy of Zumbo:

http://www.zumbo.ch/coins/ch/jpegs_l/chsh05da.jpg

and here's the reverse:

http://www.zumbo.ch/coins/ch/jpegs_l/chsh05dr.jpg

Wonder what an 1859 Zurich Shooting Thaler looks like? Take a look:

Obverse:

http://www.zumbo.ch/coins/ch/jpegs_l/chsh05fa.jpg

Reverse:

http://www.zumbo.ch/coins/ch/jpegs_l/chsh05fr.jpg

What about an 1872 Zurich? First the obverse:

http://www.zumbo.ch/coins/ch/jpegs_l/chsh05la.jpg

and the reverse:

http://www.zumbo.ch/coins/ch/jpegs_l/chsh05lr.jpg

After seeing the three coins already presented, is there any wonder why there are so many Shooting Thaler collectors?

T o further whet your appetite look at the next ones I have chosen to show you.

An 1861 Stans Shooting Thaler:

http://www.zumbo.ch/coins/ch/jpegs_l/chsh05ga.jpg

Here's the reverse:

http://www.zumbo.ch/coins/ch/jpegs_l/chsh05gr.jpg

An 1874 Saint Gallen awaits your approval:

Obverse:

http://www.zumbo.ch/coins/ch/jpegs_l/chsh05ma.jpg

Reverse:

http://www.zumbo.ch/coins/ch/jpegs_l/chsh05mr.jpg

And now for the real reason we've arrived here in Berne. Every canton hosting a Shooting Festival strikes a special Thaler to commemorate the event. It's called a Shooting Thaler. We can pick one up at that bank.

Shooting Thalers were not struck for general circulation, but as a commemorative of the festival, however many banks and local businesses within the canton accept them as lawful currency. Now let's take a look at our Berne 1857 Thaler:

Images courtesy of Zunbo:
Isn't this obverse a good representation of the Festival?

http://www.zumbo.ch/coins/ch/jpegs_l/chsh05ea.jpg

And this reverse is a work of art!

http://www.zumbo.ch/coins/ch/jpegs_l/chsh05er.jpg

Now come with me back to the present inside the Smithsonian Instution. See that 1804 Silver Dollar? It is the rarest of all the 1804s. It was struck without authorization between 1857 and 1860 over a 1857 Berne Shooting Thaler.

Look close:

http://www.coinfacts.com/silver_doll...lar_class2.htm

For those of you who collect "shooting" coins, here's a 1934 example of a Swiss "Shooting 5 Frank" coin:

Image courtesy of World Coin Gallery:

http://worldcoingallery.com/countries/coin.php?image=nmc1/172-s18&desc=Switzerland%20kms18%205%20Francs%20(1934) %20Shooting%20Festival

Please let me know if you enjoyed this trivia.

Clinker

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