Lucerne Angelot

This Lucerne Angelot was struck using silver planchets likely sourced from melted-down foreign coins, a practical reuse common in Swiss cantonal mints during economic uncertainty.

That approach kept costs down in an era when Switzerland's patchwork of currencies made trade a headache. The coin itself bears an angel motif on the obverse, a design echo from earlier European issues, and includes Lucerne's cantonal arms on the reverse. Weighing around 2.5 grams, it circulated as a small denomination, roughly equivalent to a fraction of a Swiss thaler.

Exact mintage figures are murky; records from that period often went up in smoke, literally, due to fires in local archives. While some specimens show wear from heavy use in daily transactions, others remain crisp, hinting at hoarding by prudent burghers.

One might quip that this coin's angel looks as if it's fleeing the coming standardization of Swiss currency.