NGC Registry Featured Set: Switzerland Shooting Festival Commemorative Coinage

Come with us as we leave behind the British Virgin Islands from last month and fly across the chilly Atlantic to Switzerland. We are excited to share a unique Switzerland: Shooting Festival Commemorative Coinage 1842-1939 complete set

These unique and rare coins, also referred to as “shooting thalers,” played a key role in Swiss history. The original mintage began in 1842 and ended in 1939 with the outbreak of WWII. This series was revived in 1984 as popular commemoratives at the world’s largest shooting rifle competition, the Schützenfest, which draws 200,000-300,000 every year!

Despite the varied denominations on these coins, they were considered medals, not legal tender, and were only issued at the festivals. Some claim they were used as shooting targets, while others say they helped raise money for the wives and children of men who were killed at war.

Each coin depicts different artwork — no two issues are the same. Sterlingcoins offers us some striking and lovely examples in their set, with crisp images for all. This collector has taken the extra step to include informative, colorful descriptions of their coins, including “Delicious cobalt blue and purple toning,” and “Blazing white mint luster with somewhat proof-like surfaces.” It's a true pleasure to see, as illustrated by the 1,100+ views for this particular NGC Registry set!

In addition to this Swiss set, Sterlingcoins has an admirable assortment of other competitive NGC Registry sets, from Gold 20 Francs to Great Britain Type sets and much more. We must give a nod to their well-presented US Quarter Eagle Set, the Sterling Collection of Indian Quarter Eagles. They have managed to fill this set to 100% completion, including a fine example of the scarce 1911-D, graded NGC AU 58. Thank you, Sterlingcoins, for sharing all your treasured sets with us. We look forward to more updates from your unique and thoughtful collection in the future.

Get your sets ready for the 2021 NGC Registry Awards. The NGC Registry is a free online platform where collectors register and display their certified coins, medals and tokens, and can compete against other collectors around the world for recognition and prizes. This popular resource now boasts over 21,000 users, more than 190,000 registered sets and 1.3 million registered coins. In January 2021, the NGC Registry awarded more than $25,000 in prizes — a 25% increase from last year!

Would you like your set to be chosen for a future feature article? 100% completion in a set type is not always feasible; our team will also feature sets with thoughtful comments and images for each coin. Perhaps we will choose a collector whose set has a personal story or interesting historical facts. We are looking for those sets where someone has taken the time to make the collection unique and is a reflection of his or her personal collecting style. It may be your set! Stay tuned.

The NGC Registry team is here to help. Questions or comments? Go to the NGC Registry Chat Boards.

Sources:

• MCM-Louis Golino
• Coin World-Louis Golino