In 1883, Switzerland introduced a new 20-franc gold coin, the highest denomination at the time. Instead of a head of state, the republican Confederates put the ideal of a Swiss woman on the obverse: Helvetia.
Find out more about the subject in our article “Human faces, part 46: ‘When you call, my Fatherland’”.
In our series “Bullion Coins Part 6: The Vreneli”, you will learn why a completely different ideal replaced this Helvetia only a few years later.