Fribourg's small billon issues of this period reflect the patchwork monetary reality of the Old Swiss Confederacy, where individual cantons and cities retained the right to strike their own coinage well into the late eighteenth century. The city's mint operated under strict cantonal oversight, and the range of years on this type spans a period of relative political stability for Fribourg — stability that would end abruptly with the French invasion of 1798 and the effective dissolution of the old cantonal minting privileges.
Billon this light wore quickly in circulation and was frequently clipped or counterfeited, which partly explains why the Helvetic Republic moved swiftly to standardize the Swiss monetary system after 1798.
Fribourg's small billon issues of this period reflect the patchwork monetary reality of the Old Swiss Confederacy, where individual cantons and cities retained the right to strike their own coinage well into the late eighteenth century. The city's mint operated under strict cantonal oversight, and the range of years on this type spans a period of relative political stability for Fribourg — stability that would end abruptly with the French invasion of 1798 and the effective dissolution of the old cantonal minting privileges.
Billon this light wore quickly in circulation and was frequently clipped or counterfeited, which partly explains why the Helvetic Republic moved swiftly to standardize the Swiss monetary system after 1798.