Swiss franc
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The Swiss franc (ISO 4217: CHF or 756) is the currency of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is issued by the central bank of Switzerland, the Swiss National Bank.
The Swiss franc is the only currency named franc still issued in Europe. Its name in the four official languages of Switzerland: Franken (German), franc (French and Rhaeto-Romanic), and franco (Italian). The smaller denomination, which is worth a hundredth of a franc, is called Rappen in German, centime in French, centesimo in Italian and rap in Rhaeto-Romanic.
As of January 1, 2005, the Swiss franc was worth US$ 0.858101 or € 0.646289. However, even though the currency in international trading markets is worth in the range of 80 to 90 U.S. cents, it has surprisingly little actual purchasing power; items tend to cost about twice what they would in the United States (or Canada, whose dollar is worth about the same as the Swiss currency).
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Coins in circulation are:
- 1 centime (no longer in use)
- 2 centimes (no longer in use)
- 5 centimes (a debate on its use will be held in 2007)
- 10 centimes
- 20 centimes
- 50 centimes
- 1 franc
- 2 francs
- 5 francs
Banknotes in circulation are:
- 10 francs
- 20 francs
- 50 francs
- 100 francs
- 200 francs
- 500 francs (replaced in 1997 by 200 francs notes, recalled in 2000, valueless in 2020)
- 1000 francs
The current (8th, 1995) series of banknotes by Jörg Zintzmeyer depict:
- 10 francs: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)
- 20 francs: Arthur Honegger (1892-1955)
- 50 francs: Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943)
- 100 francs: Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966)
- 200 francs: Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz (1878-1947)
- 1000 francs: Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897)
The previous series (6th, 1976) by Ernst and Ursula Hiestand showed:
- 10 francs: Leonhard Euler (1707-1783)
- 20 francs: Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799)
- 50 francs: Conrad Gessner (1516-1565)
- 100 francs: Francesco Borromini (1599-1667)
- 500 francs: Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777)
- 1000 francs: Auguste Forel (1848-1931)
See franc for other currencies with the same name.
External links
- Swiss coins (http://www.swissmint.ch/e/products/index.shtml)
- Swiss banknotes (http://www.snb.ch/e/banknoten/noten.html)
- Swiss Franc Tracker (http://www.cashfollow.ch/)
- A comprehensive list of all the swiss banknotes with a short description (http://www.snb.ch/e/banknoten/alle_serien/alle_serien.html)Template:Switzerland-stub
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