1 Sol gold plated

Geneva struck this issue in the final years before Swiss cantonal coinage was swept aside by federal consolidation. The gold-plated billon construction was a deliberate economy measure — billon provided the substrate at a fraction of the cost while the plating maintained a presentable face for small commercial transactions. Canton-issued pieces like this one became obsolete almost overnight when the Swiss Confederation centralized coinage authority in 1850, leaving large quantities unspent and, in many cases, still retaining much of their surface plating.