Switzerland
1920
Silver 1 Franc 23.2mm (5.00 grams) .835 Silver (0.1334 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM #24 | Designer: Albert Walch
Standing Helvetia with lance and shield within star border; HELVETIA below.
1 Fr. 1920 within wreath.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
available for sale in my storeall coins of Switzerland
Click here to see
Helvetia is the female
national personification
of
Switzerland
, officially Confœderatio
Helvetica, the Swiss Confederation. The Goddess Helvetia or the
Goddess Helvetica.
The allegory is typically pictured in a flowing gown, with a spear
and a shield emblazoned with the
Swiss flag
, and commonly with
braided
hair, commonly with a
wreath
as a symbol of
confederation
. The name is a derivation
of the
ethnonym
Helvetii
, the name of the Gaulish
tribe inhabiting the
Swiss Plateau
prior to the
Roman conquest
.
Switzerland,
officially the Swiss Confederation (Latin:
Confoederatio Helvetica, hence its abbreviation
CH
), is a
federal
parliamentary republic
consisting of
26 cantons
, with
Bern as the seat of the federal authorities, the so-called
Bundesstadt ("federal city"). The country is situated in
Western
and
Central Europe
, where it is bordered by
Italy
to the south,
France
to the west,
Germany
to the north, and
Austria
and
Liechtenstein
to the east. Switzerland is a
landlocked country
geographically divided
between the Alps
, the
Swiss Plateau
and the
Jura
, spanning an area of 41,285 km2
(15,940 sq mi). While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the
Swiss population of approximately 8 million people is concentrated mostly on the
Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found. Among them are the two
global cities
and economic centres of
Zürich
and
Geneva
.
The establishment of the Swiss Confederation is traditionally dated to 1
August 1291, which is celebrated annually as
Swiss National Day
. It has a long history of
armed neutrality
—it has not been in a state of
war internationally since 1815—and did not join the
United Nations
until 2002. It pursues, however,
an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes
around the world. Switzerland is also the birthplace of the
Red Cross
and home to numerous international
organizations, including the
second largest UN office
. On the European
level, it is a founding member of the
European Free Trade Association
and is part of
the Schengen Area
– although it is notably not a
member of the
European Union
, nor the
European Economic Area
. Switzerland comprises
four main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, Italian and the
Romansh
-speaking valleys. Therefore, the
Swiss
, although predominantly German-speaking,
do not form a nation
in the sense of a common ethnic or
linguistic identity; rather, the strong sense of identity and community is
founded on a common historical background, shared values such as
federalism
and
direct democracy
, and
Alpine symbolism.
Switzerland has the highest nominal
wealth
per adult (financial and non-financial
assets) in the world according to
Credit Suisse
and
eighth-highest
per capita
gross domestic product
on the
IMF
list. However, Switzerland is also the most
expensive country in the world to live in, as measured by the price level index.
Swiss citizens have the
second-highest
life expectancy
in the world on the
UN
DESA list. Switzerland is tied with the
Netherlands
for the top rank on the
Bribe Payers Index
indicating very low levels
of business corruption. Moreover, for the last five years the country has been
ranked first in economic and tourist competitiveness according to the
Global Competitiveness Report
and the
Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report
respectively, both developed by the
World Economic Forum
. Zürich and Geneva have
each been ranked among the top cities with the highest quality of life in the
world, with the former coming second globally according to
Mercer
. However, Mercer also rates those two
cities as the fifth- and sixth- most expensive cities in the world to live in.
|