Shooting thaler
A shooting thaler is a silver coin in thaler size minted to commemorate a Schützenfest or free shooting in Switzerland.
In a narrow sense, Swiss Schützentaler are the silver coins equal in size and weight to the Swiss 5 francs coin minted on the occasion of one of the Eidgenössische Schützenfeste, or federal shooting festivals. Two such coins were issued by the cantonal mints of Graubünden, and Glarus prior to the establishment of the Federal Mint. Sometimes included as "shooting thaler" is a double thaler coin minted by Geneva and donated as cash prizes to the 1851 festival.
The Federal Mint has issued fifteen such coins with the nominal value of five francs, between 1855 and 1885.
These coins were not intended as legal tender, even though they were issued by the federal mint with a nominal face value. Because they were minted to the official specifications of the 5 francs coin, they were nevertheless circulated de facto. After 1885, the federal mint was dissuaded from minting these semi-official coins on the part of the Latin Monetary Union. After the demise of the Monetary Union, the Swiss federal mint issued two further Schützentaler, in 1934 and 1939, for a total of twenty distinct Schützentaler. Of the 22 cantons of the Swiss Confederation, 18 are represented in these coins, the exceptions being Uri, Appenzell, Aargau and Valais.
Most of the designs in the series depict strongly patriotic themes, frequently depicting the federal personification Helvetia alongside a cantonal or city personification, in some cases alluding to specific historical events.
The entire series can be distinguished from the much more varied genre of shooting medals by their adherence to the specifications of circulating coinage. All but the Stans and St. Gallen issues are denominated.
The term Schützentaler has been revived for commercially produced commemorative coins of thaler size offered on the collector's market since the 1980s.
History
The first shooting medals were struck in honor of the Officers' Shoot held in Langenthal, Bern, in 1822. Shooting medals continued to be made in great numbers, minted in a variety of metals, including silver, bronze, gold and white metal.The first shooting thalers were cantonal pieces, minted in the 1840s by Grisons and Glarus as sovereign cantons of the Restored Confederacy.
These two thalers were strictly legal tender, issued under the same conditions as other circulating coins of the period.
For the 1851 festival, Geneva, already as a canton of the Swiss Confederation but before the federal mint had become fully operational, issued a 10 francs piece. This is sometimes included as a "shooting thaler", even though the shooting festival is in no way alluded to in the coin design.
The Geneva issue of 1851, with a mintage of only 1,000 pieces, is the rarest of the shooting thalers, and has consequently attained the highest collector's value, selling for upward of CHF 1,500.
All nineteenth-century federal shooting thaler issues were minted to legal fineness, and were given the denomination of five francs. But from 1865, Switzerland was a member of the Latin Monetary Union, and since the shooting thalers were not included in the mintages authorized by the Union, they are considered semi-medallic, and not technically legal tender even though they did circulate de facto, and their circulation was tolerated by the federal authorities.
The classification of the federally issued shooting thalers as circulating currency was discussed controversially in the late 19th century. Haas argues for their recognition as such. He cites the fact that for three decades, these coins were circulated de facto without intervention on the part of the federal authority. In addition, the 1855 thaler was minted as a regular 5 francs coin with the only exception of the shooting festival being mentioned in the inscription on the coin's edge.
The last thaler of this series is the 1885 Bern issue. After this time, Switzerland was dissuaded from further issuing these semi-official coins by the Latin Monetary Union.
Although the term Schützentaler is mostly reserved for the Swiss tradition, some German mints in the 19th century have also issued commemorative coins for Schützenfeste. Examples include the German States of Baden, Bremen, Frankfurt am Main and Hanover,
In 1927, the Monetary Union ceased to exist. Mintage began on a new series of shooting thalers in 1934 in honor of the shooting festival in Fribourg, and another design was issued in 1939 for the Lucerne festival. The 1934 issue was the last official shooting thaler that matched the circulating counterpart in both diameter and weight. The 1939 issues were not the same size and weight as their circulating counterparts, but both issues were redeemable only at the shooting festival or participating businesses. The federal festival, and with it the production of shooting thalers, was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.
For the federal festivals of 1949 to 1977, commemorative coins were made but not to official specifications. With the rising popularity of collecting commemorative coins in the 1980s, fine silver coins dubbed Schützentaler have been privately issued for cantonal and federal festivals.
Cantonal issues
Chur (1842)
- Year: 1842
- Location: Chur
- Denomination: 4 francs
- Designer: Karl Friedrich Voigt
- Diameter:
- Coinage metal: Silver
- Mintage: 6,000
- Notes: 1,744 pieces melted in 1852, for an upper limit of 4,256 surviving pieces. White metal and zinc pieces are known to have been struck. The zinc pieces were allegedly fixed in the center of a target during the shooting festival. If hit, the shooter would be given a larger award.
| Details | Translation | |
| Obverse | EIDGENÖSSISCHES FREISCHIESSEN IN CHUR – 1842 | Federal Free Shoot in Chur – 1842 |
| Reverse | CANTON GRAUBÜNDEN – 4 SCHWEIZER FRANKEN | Canton of Graubünden – 4 Swiss francs |
| Edge | EINTRACHT MACHT STARK | Harmony is strength |
Glarus (1847)
- Year: 1847
- Location: Glarus
- Denomination: 40 batzen
- Designer: S. Burger, Karl Friedrich Voigt
- Diameter:
- Coinage metal: Silver
- Mintage: 3,200
- Notes: 1,023 pieces melted in 1852, for an upper limit of 2,177 surviving pieces. White metal and zinc pieces are known to have been struck. The zinc pieces were allegedly fixed in the center of a target during the shooting festival. If hit, the shooter would be given a larger award.
| Details | Translation | |
| Obverse | EIDGENÖSSISCHES FREYSCHIESSEN IN GLARUS – 1847 | Federal Free Shoot in Glarus – 1847 |
| Reverse | 40 Btz. | 40 batzen |
| Edge | EINTRACHT MACHT STARK | Harmony is strength |
Geneva (1851)
- Year: 1851
- Location: Geneva
- Denomination: 10 francs
- Designer: Antoine Bovy
- Diameter:
- Coinage metal: Silver
- Mintage: 1,000
- Notes: These coins are not technically "shooting thalers", as the shooting festival is in no way mentioned or alluded to in the design. They are, rather, a batch of 1,000 double thaler coins minted by the canton of Geneva specifically as cash prizes that could be won at the festival.
| Details | Translation | |
| Obverse | POST – TENEBRAS – LUX | Light after darkness |
| Reverse | REPUBLIC ET CANTON DE GENEVE – 10 FRANCS 1851 | Republic and Canton of Geneva – 10 francs 1851 |
| Edge | - | - |
Federal issues (1855–1885)
Solothurn (1855)
- Year: 1855
- Location: Solothurn
- Denomination: 5 francs
- Designers: Friedrich Fisch, S. Burger, Karl Friedrich Voigt
- Diameter:
- Coinage metal: Silver
- Mintage: 3,000
- Design:
- :Obv.: Seated figure of Helvetia, holding shield with the federal coat of arms, pointing left, with mountains and ears of corn, HELVETIA
- :5 Fr. 1855, wreath of oak leaves and gentian
- :Edge: EIDGEN. FREISCHIESEN SOLOTHURN 1855
- Notes: The design is identical to the regular federal 5 franc issues in use at the time, except for the inscription on the edge. Imitations were reported as early as 1890.
Bern (1857)
- Year: 1857
- Location: Bern
- Denomination: 5 francs
- Designer: Ferdinand Korn
- Diameter:
- Coinage metal: Silver
- Mintage: 5,191
- Design:
- :Obv.: Standing figure of a soldier with musket, EHRE IST MEIN HOECHSTES ZIEL., signature KORN.
- :Rev.: Two crossing rifles, Swiss cross in splendour in a wreath, 5 FRANKEN, EIDGENÖSSISCHES FREISCHIESSEN IN BERN 1857.
- Notes: Examples are known to have been struck in white metal. The only known "Class II" specimen of the 1804 dollar, now in the National Numismatic Collection, was struck over an 1857 shooting thaler.
Zürich (1859)
- Year: 1859
- Location: Zürich
- Denomination: 5 francs
- Designer: Ferdinand Korn
- Diameter:
- Coinage metal: Silver
- Mintage: 6,000
- Design:
- :Obv.: Standing figure of a soldier with rifle, EIDGENÖSSISCHES FREISCHIESSEN, 1859, signature KORN
- :Rev.: Two cantonal coats of arms under a federal coat of arms, supported by two lions. ZÜRICH, 5 FRANKEN.