ABSTRACT
Currency: Up to the foundation of the Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft/Confédération Suisse in 1848, control of currencies was in the hands of the single Swiss cantons. Therefore there was a great variety of currencies and coins for centuries (cf. KÖRNER / FURRER / BARTLOME [2001]), and some attempts at reform, which began in the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803), brought no practical results. So, up to 1852 the Zurich exchange rate quotations were given in guilders Zurich exchange money (of 10.51 grammes of fine silver; the so-called ‘Zürchergulden’) of 16 Zürcher batzen or 60 kreuzer, whereby in the first half of the 19th century 34 Zürcher batzen were equal to 5 French francs. The guilder Zurich exchange money was equal to 1/10 new louis d’or corresponded to 1 guilder at the standard of coinage of 22½ guilders per mark of Cologne. After the foundation of the Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft/Confédération Suisse, the Swiss franken/franc at 100 rappen or centimes was introduced by the Bundesgesetz über das eidgenössische Münzwesen of May 7th 1850. The new franken followed the French model, i.e. the French franc, because of the Swiss commercial interests that were focused on France at this time. The Swiss franken corresponded exactly to the French franc, with 4.50 grammes of fine silver. The currency reform was completed at the end of 1852, so that the manner of quoting in Zurich changed to the new Swiss standard currency from April 1852. Since the introduction of the franken/franc currency in Switzerland, the country was more or less dependent on the French mint and currency policy up to World War I. In the 1850s the Swiss means of payment in circulation – above all foreign coins – changed: more and more gold coins came into Switzerland, whereas silver money disappeared. French gold coins in particular functioned as a kind of ‘bank money’ for the exchange business. From 1860 the gold coins of France and Piedmont-Sardinia were accepted as legal tender. On December 23rd 1865 Switzerland became one of the founder members of the Latin Monetary Union (see pp. 279f.), and from then on the Swiss franken corresponded not only to the French franc in silver, but also to the gold franc of 0.2903 grammes of fine gold.
