1 Rappen

Lucerne struck cantonal copper in the late 1830s under a monetary system that was genuinely chaotic — pre-federal Switzerland operated with over 800 distinct coin types across its cantons, a situation that made cross-border commerce a recurring headache and ultimately forced the monetary unification of 1850. This particular issue predates that consolidation by just over a decade, placing it in the last sustained period of independent cantonal coinage before the Swiss franc absorbed everything.

The KM#118 variety designation signals a die or detail variant within the type — worth cross-referencing against HMZ 1#2-675g, which remains the authoritative attribution for this series.