schutzenfester

1865 Zurich R1727c / M1017 Archery Shoot of Zurich BR 54mm Engraver: Jakob Friedrich Aberli, Winterthur R

1891 Morges R1584d / M940 Cantonal Shoot BR 45mm Engraver: Hugues Bovy / Louis Furet, Geneve

1844 St. Livres, Canton Vaud R1557a / M918 Société Militaire Silver 27mm RR NOTE: The rim is essentially perfect. Because this medal is looped, I had to trace the edge and thus the imperfect rim edge. Looped and with ribbon medals are difficult to present within my template as shown here.

1951 Andermatt, Canton Uri R1530a / M902 Cantonal Shoot Silver 40mm Engraver: Huguenin, Le Locle R Most medals are engraved and various date exist. The medal was awarded for the first time in 1928 in Altdorf. Known so far are: 1947 in Burglen, 1951 in Andermatt, and no date examples.

Thanks very much. It is a labor of love. The Aubonne medal above does not look as good. Looped medals as well as ones with ribbons are extremely difficult (or at least for me) to manipulate compared to a round one.

No Date Aubonne, Canton Vaud R1655a / M916 Société Militaire des Amis Silver 33mm with original ribbon RR, quite rare

1901 Hergiswil, Canton Schwyz R1030a / M880 Cantonal Shoot Silver 45mm Engraver: Jean Kauffmann, Luzern R

ND Ticino, Maestro Tiratore R1523a / M871 Cantonal Shoot Silver 50mm Engraver: Huguenin, Le Locle R Note: This medal was awarded to the best shooters of the Ticino cantonal shot: 1936 in Bellinzona, 1948 in Chiasso, 1951 in Bellinzona, 1955 in Locarno, and 1959 in Lugano. All medals noted so far are not marked with the year.

1891 Central German Shoot, Erfurt Silver Recently acquired from Germany. I have never seen this particular design in a German shooting medal. The "Wildman"design is of particular interest to some collectors of Swiss and German shooting medals. This example is proof-like and a very nice specimen overall.

1972 Schaffhausen Like R1067a / M613 Cantonal Shoot Silver 39mm Engraver: Huguenin, Le Locle

Hi Art, I use an old MS product called MS Photodraw although I have done the same with Photoshop. For me, Photodraw is just more user friendly. I actually found the background template a couple of years ago and have held on to it for quite some time. I scan the images at 600 ppi (this is a result of researching web results at this resolution and overall clarity). I found that my particular scanner gives me better/faster results than photography. I then use Photodraw to crop, rotate, and resize the picture. With Photodraw I then place the resized picture into the background, then copy the image, invert it and then tweak it to create the mirror image you see in the final product. Save and publish. While PhotoShop actually gives a slightly better final product, Photodraw is just so much easier and quicker so that is why I use it instead. After doing several of my medals, I am able to accomplish all the above in about 10 minutes a medal. This in itself is very time consuming when you calculate how long it will take to do a modest collection. I try to get a few medals every weekend into this final format for my reference and hopefully other people's pleasure.

Great question. Across the Swiss shooting medals spectrum I would say that the bronze medals are somewhat less frequent because: Less of them were awarded many times (but sometimes more, researching Martin and Richter tells more of the story than here) Many collectors like silver more than bronze and white metal regardless of rarity. This seems to be the trend with some newer collectors. Because the silver medal was the higher award many were possibly more coveted than the bronze and therefore attrition was less although in hard times silver was more valuable and thus melting down/selling silver and gold medals was more common place.

1889 Einsieden, Canton Schwyz R1076c / M622 Cantonal Shoot BR 46mm Engraver: C. Theiler, Luzern / Vasco L. Schlütter, Geneve RR

1968 Küssnacht, Canton Schwyz Issued after R1116a Cantonal Shoot Silver 50mm Engraver: Huguenin. Le Locle R

1905 Olten, Canton Solothurn R1127a / M651 Cantonal Shoot Silver 45mm Engraver: Holy Freres, St. Imier H (Common), 505 minted

1911 Olten, Canton Solothurn R1130b / M653 w/o A Jubilee Shoot Silver 23mm Engraver: Holy Freres, St. Imier R

1911 Olten, Canton Solothurn R1130b / M653 w/ A (period restrike) Jubilee Shoot Silver 23mm Engraver: Holy Freres, St. Imier H

1890 Frauenfeld, Canton Thurgau R1250c / M666 Federal Shoot BR 45mm Engraver: Hugues Bovy, Geneve H, 4500 minted

1894 Lausanne, Canton Vaud R1590b / M945 Cantonal Shoot Silver plated bronze 39 mm Engraver: Charles Defailly, Geneve R, although rated R by Richter, the silver plated bronze is seen less frequently than the silver plated white metal piece which is rated as RR. I just received this medal today from Switzerland. It was originally advertised as silver but after a few conversations with the numismatic firm selling it and based on close up pictures and my experiences with handling other examples of this medal I was able to convince them and confirm it was actually silver plated bronze.

Undated St. Gallen cantonal shoot R1243 / M591 Silver Engraver: Huguenin, Le Locle 37mm X 53mm Common As well as undated ones there are dated medals: 1925 St. Gallen, 1929 Mels, 1938 Wil, and 1951 St. Gallen. 1902 Noranco, Canton Ticino R1426a / M820 Silver 39mm Engraver: Huguenin, Le. Locle RR, seldom seen or offered 1909 Frauenfeld, Canton Thurgau R1277a / M688 Cantonal Shoot Silver 27mm Engraver: Hans Frei, Basel RR, 86 minted

1947 Cham Standschützen R1688a / M1005 BR, silver plated 50 mm Engraver: Huguenin, Le Locle R Since the year has been engraved, it is possible that there are different dates. Medal was first awared in 1930. Other dates known are: 1934, 1942, 1947, and undated. 1886 La Chaux de Fonds, Canton Neuchatel R951a / M512 Silver 45mm 1,250 minted Engraver: Edouard Durussel, Bern Common 1892 Le Locle, Canton Neuchatel R959b / M519 Silver 45mm 705 minted Engraver: Huguenin, Le Locle Common 1892 Le Locle, Canton Neuchatel R959c / M519 BR 45mm 643 minted Common

Actually, the 1934 Fribourg 5 franc piece you are referring to is in choice UNC condition and is as minted. The matte finish variety is quite rare and the look of pitting is actually in the matte finish itself. To answer your second question; No, I have not encountered any Nazi imagery on Swiss Shooting medals and I have several from the time period. I have quite a few German shooting medals but none are from the Nazi time period.

1934 Fribourg 5 Franc R431b / M246a Matte finish, rare. Engraver: Oscar Cattani / Huguenin, Le Locle / Monnaie fédérale, Bern 1936 Jungschützentag Bronze, 40mm RR Engraver: Huguenin, Le Locle 1939 Luzern World Championships R913 / M500 Silver, gold plated; marked silver (.925) on edge. Richter does not list a Gold plated silver variety. RR / 50mm Engraver: Emil Wiederkehr, Luzern / Huguenin, Le Locle

1903 Liestal, Cantonal schützenfest, Basel. R129 / M80 45mm, Silver Engraver: Hans Frei, Basel 1900 St. Imier cantonal schützenfest, Bern. R244 M157 45mm, silver Engraver: Georges Hantz, Geneve 1909 Delémont, cantonal shoot, Bern Rare R251 M166 45mm, silver Engraver: Holy Frères, St. Imier

M45 - Canton of Aargau, 1924 Federal Shoot in Aarau. Silver medal, 50mm