Editing Thaler (section)

==Switzerland==
{{See also|Swiss franc#History}}
[[File:LaubtalerGegenstempel.jpg|thumb|200px|French ''écu'' or ''laubthaler'' stamped "40 BZ" (batzen) in Bern became 4 francs under the Helvetic Republic]]
[[File:40 batzen Zurich - 1813.png|thumb|200px|40 batzen minted in Zurich, 1813]]

The [[Thirteen Cantons]] of the [[Old Swiss Confederacy]] and their Associates each minted their own coins, with most larger silver coins conforming to established German or French standards. Thaler and half thaler coins were minted by the cities of [[Zürich thaler|Zürich]] (1512), [[Berne thaler|Bern]], Lucerne, Zug, Basel, Fribourg, [[Solothurn thaler|Solothurn]], Schaffhausen, [[St. Gallen thaler|St. Gallen]]  and [[Geneva thaler|Geneva]].

The [[Swiss Reformation|Reformed]] cities began to represent "city views" on the obverse of their thalers, as they did not have the option to represent either patron saint or ruling princes. The first city view thaler of Zürich was minted in 1651 (the so-called ''Vögelitaler'').<ref>Künker Auktion 316, Numismatischer Verlag Künker (2019), [https://books.google.com/books?id=h7y4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA282 282].</ref>

By the 18th century, [[Bern]] and many Western Swiss cantons adopted the French ''écu'' or ''laubthaler'' of 26.7 g fine silver as its most widely used thaler, valued at 4 ''livres (francs)'' or 40 ''[[batzen]]'' of Bern. In 1798 this system was adopted by the [[Helvetic Confederation]] with the first Swiss franc equal to {{frac|4}}th an écu.

Eventual transition to this first new Swiss franc stalled in the 19th century while public preference shifted to the South German Kronenthaler of 25.71 g fine silver, valued at 3.9 francs or 39 batzen. In 1850 Switzerland established the modern-day [[Swiss franc]] at par with the [[French franc]], with 40 Swiss francs exchanged for 7 kronenthaler. The five-franc coin of 25.0 g, 90% fine silver became the coin with the closest value to the different historical thalers.