The nickel composition of this coin is of special interest to me. Why, I wonder, was this 5-rappen/centesimi/centime—which was coined in copper-nickel beginning in 1940 and continuing again in 1942—coined in nickel in 1941? (And of course it calls to mind the case of the Swiss 5-franc coin, struck in copper-nickel in 1968 and from 1970-onward, but silver again for 1969 only.)
The look of the little 5-rappen/centesimi/centime is familiar in the extreme, of course, with an obverse portrait that’s been a fixture of world coinage since 1879.
1941. The League of Nations was still holding on, but much of its remaining machinery had departed Switzerland the year before.
1941. World War. But Switzerland was a neutral and its tradition of neutrality was honored yet again—in part because the existence of a neutral Switzerland was advantageous to all sides. Much of the world’s at-risk wealth took refuge in Switzerland—and Swiss coins and currency were so much in demand that they often traded above their nominal exchange value.
After the war—and for decades more—this 1941 5-rappen/centesimi/centime continued on in circulation. Not until 1 January 1984 was this little coin demonetized, and when it was, the copper-nickel 5-rappen/centesimi/centime departed as well, all to make way for a new brass-colored coin.
v.
