Historical Sketch

In the course of the Protestant Reformation in the mid-16th century, Geneva adopted a republican rule and allied with the Swiss Confederation. In 1798, revolutionary France annexed Geneva which and kept it until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, when Geneva regained independence and joined Switzerland in May 1815. Since 1848, Geneva is a Swiss canton.

Monetary History Overview

Geneva's accounting system of the 18th century was based on the silver Florin with the Thaler at 12¾ Florins as the principal coin. In 1798, Napoleonic France conquered and annexed Geneva. The local currency was abolished and replaced by the French Franc. As the Swiss constitution of that time did not foresee a common monetary standard, Geneva did not adopt the Swiss Franc as accounting unit but restored the Genevan Florin in the pre-Napoleonic standard. Only subsidiary coins were minted locally, the majority of circulating coins were French and Sardinian. In 1839, Geneva switched to decimal accounting in Genevan Franc, a silver currency identical to the French Franc. Again, only subsidiary coins were issued, while specie coins from the neighbouring countries were circulating. In 1848, briefly before the introduction of the Swiss currency, local specie coins in gold and silver were issued in slightly different specifications than the French coins to prevent their exportation. In the 1830 already, Genevan commercial banks began issuing paper money. The issues before 1839 were denominated in French Franc. Several banks continued their issuance after the abolition of the Genevan currency, some until the Swiss National Bank established its monopoly in 1910.

In 1850, Switzerland introduced a common currency, the cantonal coins were demonetized until mid-1852. The Genevan Franc was replaced by the (identical) Swiss Franc in September 1851, the local subsidiary coins were demonetized in August 1852.

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