I've always thought the most common type of Swiss coins that I see, i.e. the rappen, half franc, and 1 franc coins, were kind of boring. But recently I was looking deeper in the Krause catalogs, and man, are there some beautiful coins and medals out there, especially from the 19th century. These coins tend to be pricey and thus I can't just go out and get every one I'd like. But here's one that I ordered that came today. This is a shooting medal from Bern. I need to do more research and see what the story with these shooting medals is, but I know there are different versions from many years and cities and many have really lovely designs. This is from 1910 and has my favorite subject on it, a bear.
Very nice! I briefly attempted to collect the medallic 5 francs shooting thaler series. Had to abandon it after I acquired the more common ones and saw how much the scarcer pieces were going for. Maybe one day
There's an 1885 with a bear that I will be sure to get one day. I don't know how many others I can afford because I'm not in the habit of dropping more than $100 on coins. For a lot of people on here that's nothing but to me it is. There's some real works of art out there though.
Lucky for you that is one of the most common years. You can get an example for under $100 if you sit on auctions and don't mind one that is not pristine and/or has some minor issues.
You've jumped onto a slippery slope indeed! I can think of lots worse stuff to collect than Swiss coins and medals.
The bear makes sense because that shooting taler is from Bern, and both the city and canton of Bern (Berne) have a bear in the CoA. According to popular etymology the name Bern is derived from or related to the word Bär (bear). The tower depicted on the piece, the Zytglogge, can also be found on a 2003 collector coin dedicated to Bern's Old Town (Unesco Cultural Heritage series). obverse / reverse Here is another shooting taler, from the Federal Festival in Bern, in 1885. The 1885 festival is also the subject of this piece. Three bears for the price of one ... medal. Not sure whether the eyelet is original or was added later. And this is a bear saying Hello to a woman. The bear represents Bern of course, and the lady is supposed to be Switzerland. That medal from 1853 commemorates the 500th anniversary of Bern's joining the alliance that later became the Swiss Confederation. This medal commemorates a cantonal shooting festival in 1931. The woman's headgear is similar to what the lady on your taler has. Most of these shooting talers were not actually coins, but they could be used as means of payment at the festival. Also, if you go through the posts that @Zohar444 made here, you will come across many more ... Christian
Thanks Christian, very interesting to see what's out there. I also know there are a few other Swiss cantons that tend to have bear themes. St. Gallen and Appenzell are two that come to mind.
