Coins of the Principality of Liechtenstein

Today's theme is dedicated to the coins of the Principality of Liechtenstein, the fourth most populous and largest state in Europe, located on the border of Austria and Switzerland . It will not be a surprise that coins for a state with a population of 9,000 people (at the beginning of the 20th century) were issued in extremely small editions, and therefore are quite expensive and rarely found. 

 

There are 3 coins in my collection so far. In fairness, I note that in the XX-XXI centuries only 24 types of coins were issued in Liechtenstein, of which only 7 are "available" for ordinary collectors. The remaining coins were either struck in gold or commemorative, issued in limited editions as proof. That is, having 3 coins in my collection, I collected almost half of all the "available"... "Affordable" deliberately put in quotation marks, since the price tags on them are indecent, especially on coins of the 1924 line. For what reason? I'll tell you a little below.

 

So, at the beginning, by tradition, a little history. The lands of the future Principality as early as 15 BC were part of the Roman province of Recia. The far non-poor and influential Austrian family of Liechtenstein received the Princely title in 1607. Having already a considerable amount of land and castles on the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1699 the Liechtensteins acquired the Schellenberg feud (plot of land) from the impoverished owners of the city of Hohenams, and in 1712 the Vaduz feud. In 1719, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian recognizes the head of the Liechtenstein family, Anton Florian, as the Prince of sovereign dignity of the Principality of Liechtenstein. This date is considered the year of foundation of the Principality in its today's borders.

 

 

After 9 years, in 1728 the first coins of the Principality were issued for circulation. These were silver thalers and gold trade ducats with the profile of Joseph Johann Adam von Lichtenstein - the only surviving son of the founder of the Principality, Anton Florian.

 

 

In the 18th century, coin issues took place in 1758 (with a profile on the coins of Prince Liechtenstein Joseph Wenzel I) and in 1778 (Prince Franz Joseph I von Liechtenstein). These were again thalers and trade ducats with derivatives.

 

 

If you noticed, coins for circulation were issued extremely rarely (the only issue for the entire period of the reign) and several years after one or another representative of the princely family became the head of state. It is worth noting that over the next 84 years, the Principality did not issue more than one coin. Only in 1862, Prince Johann II issued a traditional silver thaler with a circulation of 1920 copies.

 

 

The "breakthrough" in the minting of coins of the Principality of Liechtenstein occurred at the beginning of the 20th century, when the same Prince Johann II issued a line of silver coins in denominations of 1, 2 and 5 kroons .

 

Coins were issued according to the standard of the Latin Monetary Union, despite the fact that Liechtenstein was not listed in the lists of members of this union. At that time, Austria-Hungary was a member of the Latin Monetary Union, to the course of which the crown of the Principality of Liechtenstein was tied. It should be noted that due to the geographical location (between Austria and Switzerland) , the Austro-Hungarian crown was in circulation for a rather long period of time on the territory of the Principality. Then, after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in March 1919, Liechtenstein transferred to the Austrian crown in calculations. At the same time, the Liechtenstein krone was used as the national currency from 1898 to 1921. What caused the decision to suddenly issue its own coins, while continuing to use the currency of a neighboring state safely, remains a mystery.

 

Due to the instability of the crown exchange rate of the Republic of Austria, in 1921 the Principality of Liechtenstein entered into a customs and monetary union with Switzerland, according to which it is transferred in settlements to the Swiss franc. On May 26, 1924, Liechtenstein carried out a monetary reform, during which it issued its own franc, equal to the Swiss franc. The coin series of the post-reform issue included silver coins in denominations of ½, 1, 2 and 5 francs. Coins of this issue, despite the fact that the circulation was generally decent initially and the emission occurred only some 100 years ago, are extremely rare, since a significant part of the circulation was withdrawn and sent for remelting. Here are the figures for the circulation of each of the denominations and the actual number of coins settled by the population:

 

 

One of the relatively "affordable" coins of this issue, available in my collection, is presented below.

 

 

The receiver of Johann II on the princely throne - Prince Franz I, did not bother with the issue of his own coins, because he believed that a sufficient number of coins of his predecessor remained in circulation. Only in 1930 he issued gold coins in denominations of 10 and 20 francs.

 

In conclusion, I note that since 1980, under a customs and monetary union agreement with Switzerland, the Swiss franc has been the only legal tender in the Principality . Liechtenstein is allowed to issue a limited number of commemorative francs for collectors who do not get into circulation, and Liechtenstein is prohibited from issuing its own banknotes.