1 Franc Helvetia standing, nickel, trial

Swiss monetary authorities spent much of the 1920s debating whether to abandon the silver franc entirely in favor of base-metal coinage — a politically contentious move given Switzerland's long participation in the Latin Monetary Union, which had formally dissolved only in 1927. These 1928 nickel trials were part of that evaluation process. The Federation ultimately retained silver for the franc denomination through 1967, making pieces like this a dead end in Swiss monetary policy rather than a transitional stepping stone.