Switzerland Bern Kreuzer, 4 Kreuzer, and 1/2 Batzen 1717 to 1824

The city of Bern, Switzerland is proud of its symbol, the bear, even to this day. According to the local legend, the Duke of Zähringen founded the city and vowed to name it after the first animal he met on a hunt, which turned out to be a bear. The bear has been the animal on the seal and coat of arms of Bern from at least the 1220s.

Coins of Bern display many bear-bearing patterns (sorry). This page applies to a subset: coins with the bear surrounded by an ornate shield on one side and a Maltese cross on the other side. The shield itself has minor variations, as shown in our secondary picture. The batzen (4 kreuzer) has the annotation CR 4 on the bear side.

This pattern was used on three denominations: the kreuzer, the 1/2 batzen (2 kreuzer), and the batzen (4 kreuzer). Here are some approximate catalog values which apply to all dates, except as noted.

KREUZER (17 mm diameter)
worn: $5 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $20
well preserved: $40
fully uncirculated: $120
kreuzers dated 1796 are rare, multiply these values by four

1/2 BATZEN (23 mm diameter)
worn: $7 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $20
well preserved: $50
fully uncirculated: $140
1/2 batzen dated 1721 are rare, multiply these values by three
1/2 batzen dated 1772 and 1777 are rare, multiply these values by four

BATZEN (24 mm diameter, with CR 4 below line on bear side)
worn: $5 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $18
well preserved: $45
fully uncirculated: $130
batzen dated 1717 and 1774 are rare, multiply these values by two
batzen dated 1766 are rare, multiply these values by four

Use our Important Terminology page to convert these catalog values to actual buy and sell values.
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