Vaud had been under Bernese rule for over two centuries before French forces dissolved the old Confederation in 1798 and established the Helvetic Republic. When that experiment collapsed and the Act of Mediation reconstituted Switzerland in 1803, the newly sovereign cantons gained the right to issue their own coinage — this Batzen being among Vaud's earliest exercises of that authority. The canton's independent minting period was short; federal monetary unification under the 1850 Swiss franc system ended cantonal issues entirely.
Vaud had been under Bernese rule for over two centuries before French forces dissolved the old Confederation in 1798 and established the Helvetic Republic. When that experiment collapsed and the Act of Mediation reconstituted Switzerland in 1803, the newly sovereign cantons gained the right to issue their own coinage — this Batzen being among Vaud's earliest exercises of that authority. The canton's independent minting period was short; federal monetary unification under the 1850 Swiss franc system ended cantonal issues entirely.