Set Description
The second type of the Swiss Gold 20 Francs is usually called Vreneli and had been minted in Bern from 1897 to 1949. They are mintmarked with a B on the reverse. Fritz-Ulysse Laundry was the designer of the coin. The obverse shows a "mountain girl" with the Alps in the background. The reverse shows a Swiss Cross on a shield surrounded by oak leaves. These coins were once considered bullion (wich is still true for the coins struck after 1916), but many are quite scarce in higher mint state grades and on my opinion, they are highly collectible and very beautiful. The 1926 coin with a mintage of 50,000 was thought to be scarce but over the years many were made available by the Swiss banks. Mintages till 1916 were under 1 Million. The 1935L-B, with the highest mintage of over 20 million, was minted in 1945, 1946 and 1947.The "L" stands for lingot or bullion. The 1904,1905, 1906 and 1926 dated coins are the keys to the set and are seldom encountered in any condition. These coins are 90% pure Gold and 10% copper containing a AGW of 0.1867 troy ounces. Edge lettering for the "Vrenelis" from 1897 to 1935 consist of 22 stars representing the swiss cantons (7 stars on the left/ 8 on top and 7 on the right). The 1947 and 1949 coins have edge lettering: AD LEGEM ANNI MCMXXXI.
Key coins of this collection are:
1897 MS67
First year of issue and the only known example of the 20 Francs Vreneli designated as MS67.
Regardless wich date, up to date there is no 20 francs Vreneli graded higher than MS67 and it took another 5 years till 1904, that a coin has received this highest grade.
To date, only for the years 1897, 1904, 1905, 1915, 1922, 1926, 1927, 1930, 1935LB, 1947 and 1949 MS67 graded Vrenelis are known.
1905 MS67
A key date and finest known between the two major grading compagnies by far
1906 MS65
Population of three and none graded higher
1909 MS66
Highest grade with a population of two
1915, 1927, 1930 and 1935LB:
All top grade for the 20 Fr. MS67
1930 PL66:
Out of more than 5300 graded so far (as of 2017/11/07) only 11 were given the PL (Prooflike designation). No PL graded finer than PL66 so far. See for this coin my second set.
Out of the total 29 coins of the set I own currently 13 types with the highest known grades. Still trying to upgrade
