BATZEN: COIN OF LUCERNE (SWITZERLAND)
1 batzen or 10 rappen, 1810: Canton of Lucerne (Switzerland)
Lucerne — German-speaking Swiss canton located in the central of Switzerland. The canton comprises territories acquired in old times by its capital Lucerne, either by treaty, armed occupation or purchase.
1 BATZEN - X RAPPEN: the denomination of the coin is indicated in double format and using Roman numeral.
Plant ornament (wreath).
CANTON LUCERN: Canton of Lucerne.
Stylized coat of arms of Lucerne.
Mintage: 445.994.
- Silver (billon): 24 mm - 2.28 g
- Reference price: 30$
COIN BATZEN — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- SWITZERLAND (15th-19th centuries) — SWISS CANTONS (Aargau, Appenzell, Basel, Bern, Fribourg, Grisons, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Uri, Valais, Vaud, Zug, Zürich...) + HELVETIC REPUBLIC: batzen = 10 rappen = 1/10 frank (earlier — 4 kreuzer or 1/30 thaler)
- GERMANY (15th-19th centuries) — GERMAN STATES (Augsburg, Baden-Baden, Baden-Durlach, Bavaria, Brandenburg-Franconia, Eichstätt, Isny, Kempten, Königstein, Konstanz, Leuchtenberg, Murbach and Lüders, Öttingen, Palatinate, Passau, Regensburg, Schwäbisch Hall, Würzburg...): batzen = 4 kreuzer/kreutzer
- AUSTRIA (16th century) — AUSTRIAN EMPIRE + AUSTRIAN STATES (Görz, Salzburg...): batzen = 4 kreuzer/kreutzer
- FRANCE (16th-17th centuries) — FRENCH STATES (Colmar, Hagenau, Thann...): batzen = 4 kreuzer
BATZEN as coin name.
Batzen — historical coin of Switzerland (Swiss cantons), Germany (German states), Austria and France. Issued from the 15th to the first half of the 19th century.
For the first time, batzen coins appeared more than half a thousand years ago in Bern, Switzerland, and almost immediately became widespread in other cantons of Switzerland and the southern lands of Germany. Until the 17th century these coins were made of silver, later — of billon (low grade silver).
Batzen was extremely widespread in the territory of modern Switzerland. The following cantons were engaged in its production: Aargau, Appenzell, Basel, Bern, Friborg, Grisons, Lucerne... In addition, during the years of existence of the French-controlled Helvetic Republic (1798-1803), were minted batzens with the legend "Helvet. Republ.". After the unification of Switzerland into a single confederation, only rappens and francs remained in circulation (since 1850).
Until the 18th century (including) batzen was mass-produced by many southern German states — Baden, Bamberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg-Ansbach... The coin was traditionally equated to 4 kreutzers.
Some numismatic sources also mention Austrian and French batzens. They are quite rare in collections.
Most likely, the name batzen was given to the coin by the bear depicted on the coat of arms of Bern (Betz/Batz/Petz in local dialects). It was the heraldic symbol of the modern Swiss capital that was placed on the first coins of this type.
It is also known about the minting in the 19th century by several Swiss cantons of the most closely related coin names — on them the denomination was indicated in the format "batz" or even "bazen" (instead of batzen).
