Jack's Fencing Coins

Set Description
Modern Commemoratives featuring the sport of fencing. These are predominately Olympic commemoratives -- fencing is one of the sports that have been competed in every modern Olympics. Many countries issue commemorative Olympic coins so most of these are issues from countries that were not the host country of the Olympics for the year of the competitions.

The sport of fencing began in France in the 17th century and grew out of the need to learn and practice how to handle a sword for the purpose of dueling. Although dueling was universally outlawed by the early 17th century, it was deeply rooted in European culture and continued to be practiced by the aristocracy, spreading to military officers and higher social classes. Being able to defend one's honor was considered a necessity in the days before libel lawsuits. From a business standpoint, your reputation was used to secure a letter of credit, so refusing to defend your honor could be equated to refusing to honor your debts. Pistols became the dueling weapon of choice in the 18th and 19th century before the phenomenon finally died out. However, the last duel with swords, according to Wikipedia, occurred in 1967 between two French politicians.

Set Goals
Examples of coins featuring the sport of fencing.