10 Francs

The 1772 Bern 10 Francs gold piece is a pattern — KM#Pn18 confirms it — struck during a period when Swiss cantonal authorities were actively experimenting with decimal franc denominations that would not achieve widespread adoption until the Helvetic Republic reorganized Swiss coinage after 1798. Bern, as the dominant canton, had both the political weight and the mint infrastructure to trial such issues, but conservative mercantile interests repeatedly stalled reform. This piece exists because someone in the Bern mint pushed the question forward; the French Revolution answered it for them twenty-six years later.