20 Francs Max Frisch

Switzerland's commemorative franc series has honored writers before, but Frisch's inclusion in 2011 marked the centenary of his birth. He remains one of the few Swiss cultural figures whose international reputation — built on works like Homo Faber and Biedermann und die Brandstifter — arguably exceeded his recognition at home during his lifetime. Frisch himself was openly critical of Swiss political insularity, particularly its late admission of women's suffrage in 1971, a tension that made this official commemoration quietly complicated.

The .835 silver standard used here is the traditional Swiss coin alloy, unchanged since the Latin Monetary Union specifications of the nineteenth century.