Solothurn's duplone series occupied an awkward position in late 18th-century Swiss monetary life — a locally issued gold coinage that sat uneasily alongside the Louisdor and other foreign gold circulating freely across cantonal borders. The half duplone in particular saw limited striking runs precisely because the denomination made little commercial sense at a time when French gold dominated cross-border trade.
The 1787 date falls just two years before the political upheavals that would ultimately end cantonal monetary independence under Helvetic Republic consolidation in 1798.
Solothurn's duplone series occupied an awkward position in late 18th-century Swiss monetary life — a locally issued gold coinage that sat uneasily alongside the Louisdor and other foreign gold circulating freely across cantonal borders. The half duplone in particular saw limited striking runs precisely because the denomination made little commercial sense at a time when French gold dominated cross-border trade.
The 1787 date falls just two years before the political upheavals that would ultimately end cantonal monetary independence under Helvetic Republic consolidation in 1798.