Hello,
I notice that recently, Swiss shooting thalers have been moved from the coins section to the exonumia section. I'm not necessarily against this change, and I know it can be a subject of debate. Even though they technically had no legal tender value, they circulated de facto as 5 Franc coins (from 1855 to 1885). Those issued after 1980 were solely intended for collectors as commemorative medals. Some were rewards, others were souvenir medals that could be purchased on-site.
Shooting thaler were sold, given away, or awarded as prizes. And it would not make sense to separate shooting thalers among the different existing categories (event medals, souvenir medals, sports awards, etc.). That's why it would be relevant to create a separate category. Since it appears that there are too few shooting thalers to create a category on their own, I propose creating a new category that would encompass both shooting medals and thalers (As Richter, 2018) . For further explanation:
There are three different categories in numismatics for shooting medals/tokens:
- Shooting tokens (Schützenjetons) → Event tokens → Shooting tokens
“Can be redeemed for products only for the duration of an event, used for ammunition at shooting festivals” e.g.1
- Shooting thaler (Schützentaler) → New category: Commemorative medals -→ Shooting medals and thalers
“A shooting thaler is a silver coin in thaler size minted to commemorate a Shooting festival or free shooting in Switzerland. Swiss Schützentaler are the silver coins equal in size and weight to the Swiss 5 francs coin. These coins were not intended as legal tender, even though they were issued by the federal mint with a nominal face value. Because they were minted to the official specifications of the 5 francs coin, they were nevertheless circulated de facto." e.g.2
- Shooting medals (Schützenmedaillen) New category: Commemorative medals -→ Shooting medals and thaler
Currently classified under “Commemorative Medal → Event Medal” e.g.3
As Richter's book references just under 2500 types (and many more varieties) of shooting medals and thalers, including those from other countries (especially Germany), there would be more than enough medals to justify creating a new category within Exonumia.
What do you think ?