20 Francs Trial

The Swiss federal coinage system was consolidated under the Latin Monetary Union framework, and by the 1880s the Bern mint was periodically producing trial strikes to test dies, alloys, and machinery calibration before committing to full production runs. This 1883 gold trial almost certainly never entered circulation — Probemünzen of this type were typically retained by the mint, distributed to officials, or submitted to the Federal Council for approval. Divo/Tob Pr#25 is a catalogued rarity precisely because most trial strikes of this period were melted once a decision was reached.