Yeah, those Swiss counterstamped ecus are pretty cool. Bern and Vaud did them, as I recall, with the Vauds being a lot harder to find. It seems they circulated from 1816-1848 then were called in and melted down. Here are a couple of CoinFacts Wiki links: http://www.coinfactswiki.com/wiki/Bern_(1816)_40_batzen_KM-181.1 http://www.coinfactswiki.com/wiki/Bern_(1816)_40_batzen_KM-180
Very nice ecus Mat. And fully justified being in in this forum because they are, after all, from the "Ancien Régime". I'm on the lookout for a VF+ 1792 Ecu. The closest I have come so far is the 1791 15 Sols of the same basic design (see below - seller photo). Love the inscription on the reverse - " The Third Year of Freedom" "Rule of the People". I saw one of the ecus in the local museum when I was a kid over 45 years ago. Been keen to get one ever since, just minus the adjustment file marks. Seriously, the fact that they regularly filed the coins at the mint to adjust the weight down was criminal and a good enough reason for the revolution all by itself! The following link shows good but expensive examples of what I'm looking for: https://www.cgbfr.com/boutique,royales-francaises.html
France has produced some very interesting and exceptionally attractive modern-era coins; a fun and satisfying genre and era to collect!
And a Very Happy Eighteenth Anniversary to you and your wife, my friend! My wife and I just (yes, on Halloween) celebrated our 25th and we are looking forward to twenty-five more wonderfully happy years; that being said, by then I will have reached the grand old age of 95, and you know what they say about those elusive unhatched, unnumbered chickens....
The Lion of Lucerne, apparently borrowed with or without permission by another canton. Don't know this because I'm supah smaht, just happened to live in two of the countries right next door for eighteen years and made more than a few visits to the "Mountain Kingdom". By the way, and this is a source of (my other) national pride for me, little Austria has more Alpine peaks than does Switzerland; how about them Alpine apples?
Lots of lovely coins at that linked site, all of them far above and way beyond yours truly's relatively miniscule budget. Ce'st la vie.
Yes, perhaps, but these particular counterstamps appear to have a certain unique flair and add a really nice touch to the coins.
Ah yes, that is not surprising and a fact of life. I once made a fairly good living, but a divorce, child support and a subsequent forced disability (early) retirement put the kibosh on the days of wine (whining?) and roses in no time at all.