SWITZERLAND. Bern, Stadt. Taler 1795 (Silver, 40 mm, 29.42 g, 6 h). RES PUBLICA BERNENSIS Crowned coat of arms. Rev. DOMINUS - PROVIDEBIT / 1795• Soldier standing front, head to right, wearing plumed hat and holding reversed sword in his right hand; in field to left, countermark: incuse head of youthful Napoléon to left. HMZ 2-218a (without countermark). Extremely rare with this countermark. Slightly cleaned, otherwise, extremely fine.


The wonderful countermarked youthful head of Napoléon also appeared on the reverse of a recently auctioned Taler 1795 from Geneva (Hess-Divo 340, 1 June 2022, 174). It was applied after Napoléon was appointed as First Consul on 24 December 1799 and reflects French control of Switzerland following the 1798 invasion and the establishment of the short-lived Helvetic Republic (1798-1803).