2018 Switzerland Shooting Festival Thaler Winkelried NGC PF70UCAM Swiss Label 3pc Set

Share in the Alpine Nation’s Annual Celebration of Marksmanship

Since the 1400s when it was referred to as the “Old Swiss Confederacy,” Switzerland has held annual Schützenfest festivals where contestants match their marksmanship skills in target shooting competitions. The first festivals were held with crossbows – the weapon that William Tell famously used to shoot an apple off his son’s head. In the 1800s, the weapons changed to rifles and the festival has continued through today.

While various medals and cups were presented to the winners, special Swiss “Shooting Thalers” were issued to the general public from 1842-1939 to commemorate the event. They are distinguished from the shooting medals by their uniform size and temporary legal-tender status. Production of these special thalers was suspended due to World War II, and the Shooting Thalers were not reintroduced until 1984.

Now, you can obtain three Shooting Thalers issued this year with the 2018 Switzerland Shooting Festival Thaler Winkelried 3-Piece Set. The latest Shooting Thalers to join the series, the obverse of each depicts a bare-breasted Helvetica, the allegorical figure who represents Switzerland, standing against a backdrop of a Swiss landscape. She holds a rifle in her right hand and extends a laurel wreath, a symbol of honors bestowed upon the winners at the festival, with her left. What makes this year’s series so important is that it features the first-ever five-ounce silver issue in the entire series!

The first-ever 5-ounce silver Shooting Thaler also features a unique reverse design that makes it stand out from the others. While the common reverse on the 25-gram silver and half-ounce gold feature the traditional wreath surrounding the redemption value, the 5-ounce silver proof features a new design depicting the Swiss hero Arnold Winkelried vanquishing a foe at the Battle of Sempach.

The Battle of Sempach, took place on July 9, 1386 between Austria and the Old Swiss Confederacy. As the battle stretched on, the Swiss solders were unable to break the ranks of Austria’s pikemen. In an act of bravery, Winkelried threw himself on the pikes taking enough of them down with his body to create a hole in the ranks through which the Swiss advanced and fought their way to victory. The victory helped the loosely allied Swiss Confederation form a unified nation and laid the foundation for the modern Switzerland we know today.

Each proof in your 2018 Switzerland Shooting Festival Thaler Winkelried 3-Piece Set will come match graded by the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) to be in perfect Proof-70 Ultra Cameo (PF70UC) condition! Plus, each has also been sonically sealed in museum-quality holders with exclusive Switzerland Alps labels.

While the Swiss Shooting Thaler dates back nearly two hundred years, the history behind it goes even further back to the original shooting festivals, thus providing a connection with the past that few modern coins can match. The series has become increasingly popular in recent years, especially among collectors who have a passion for marksmanship. Despite their popularity, mintage numbers for Shooting Thalers remain extremely low, so order this 2018 Switzerland Shooting Festival Thaler Winkelried 3-Piece Set at GovMint.com while you still can!

• THE LATEST IN THE SHOOTING THALER SERIES – The 2018 Switzerland Shooting Festival Thaler Winkelried 3-Piece Set contains the latest issues in Switzerland’s long history of thalers. All feature the same obvers design of a partially draped Helvetica extending a wreath of laurel. The common reverse featuring the traditional wreath surrounding the redemption value is shared on the 25-gram silver and half-ounce gold. The 5-ounce silver features a new design depicting the hero Arnold Winkelried vanquishing an opponent at the 1386 Battle of Sempach.

• THE FIRST EVER FIVE OUNCE SHOOTING THALER – This 2018 5-ounce Silver Shooting Thaler Proof included in this set is the first-ever five-ounce silver issue in the entire series.

• STRUCK IN PRECIOUS METAL – Each of the Thalers in your 2018 Switzerland Shooting Festival Thaler Winkelried 3-Piece Set is struck in fine silver or gold. The 50 Francs proof was struck in 25 grams of 90% silver, the 100 Francs proof was struck in 5 ounces of 99.9% silver, and the 500 Francs proof was struck in a half ounce of 99.99% gold.

• UNIQUE FESTIVAL TENDER DENOMINATION – While none of these proofs are legal-tender coins, each does bear a “Festival Value” making them technically redeemable for their face values. The 25-gram silver and 5-ounce silver have face values of 50 Francs and 100 Francs respectively while the half-ounce gold has a face value of 500 Francs.

• COINS GRADED IN FLAWLESS CONDITION – Each proof in your 2018 Switzerland Shooting Festival Thaler Winkelried 3-Piece Set comes match graded by the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) to be in perfect Proof-70 Ultra Cameo (PF70UC) condition, a distinction that means your perfectly-graded proofs will have ZERO imperfections – showing all features and fields exactly as the engraver and mint intended! Each has also been sonically sealed in museum-quality holders with exclusive Switzerland Alps labels.

• EXTREMELY LIMITED MINTAGES – The proofs in your collection are extremely limited: Just 1,750 of the 50 Francs silver proofs, 500 of the 100 Francs silver proofs, and 275 of the 500 Francs gold proofs were struck for worldwide release.

Shooting Thalers sell out every year at the Swiss Mint, making these coins highly sought-after commodities in the secondary market.