Going through my unsorted loose coppers recently, I found this one. I believe it is a 1 Rappen from the Swiss Canton of Schwyz, 1843. I rarely see regional Swiss coins loose, so I'm pretty happy with it. Date and purchase price unknown, but if I got it loose, it can't have been more than a few bucks. i have to admit, anything I see something old-looking and unfamiliar in a junk bin, I tend to pick it up. The condition usually isn't much to look at, but it's a chance to educate myself about some older types cheaply. I also sometimes make an offer for batches of unsorted copper coins at my local dealers. Often the dealer is willing to sell them pretty cheaply to save the trouble of looking them up and packaging them. It's not really cherry-picking if I don't know what I'm looking for, but at times I've been happy with the results. I've find quite a few billon coins mixed in with the coppers over the years. Example: this 1851 billon 10 rappen for ~75 cents. Reverse is unreadable.
Nice coin! Looks like billon, right? I didn't know they made denominations as small as 2 rappen with silver in them.
I've got some coin boxes filled pre 1870 European minors in 2x2s (including 3 boxes of German States) that I pulled a lot of them from junk boxes over the last 40+ years. While they might not be worth much, the knowledge I gained from researching and identifying them is priceless. For some reason, I don't have many Swiss Canton coins. Just a couple Basel, Bern, Schwyz and a few others.
