Dimitri BurkhardFew would disagree that Roger Federer is greater than life - not even the Swiss government.
They have just announced that for the first time in history, a living person will be immortalized on a Swiss coin: Roger Federer! The coin in honor of the 20-time Grand Slam winner will stand among other coins depicting the Red Cross (1963), the Schöllenen Gorge (1994) or Johanna Spyri, the author of Heidi (2001).
Swissmint, the official mint of the Swiss government, is in charge of producing a special silver coin bearing Roger Federer's name and face. The "heads" side of the coin shows Federer playing a one-handed backhand.
The denomination of this coin will be 20 francs, which equals just about USD 20. In May 2020, the Swiss mint will be releasing a Roger Federer gold coin with a 50-franc denomination.
Here is a preview of the 20-franc Roger Federer coin:
This commemorative coin is limited to 55’000 and it is unlikely that any holder of this coin will ever spend it for a bottle of Rivella.
More likely, the Roger Federer coin commemorating the tennis player’s sporting legacy will become a hot item for collectors.
The Roger Federer coin can technically be purchased online between December 2 and December 19, 2019. That's if the website of Swissmint was not permanently down due to the heavy traffic. The coin will bear an issue date of January 23, 2020.
Roger Federer has thanked Switzerland (and Swissmint) on Twitter:
Thank you Switzerland🇨🇭and Swissmint for this incredible honour and privilege. 🙏#DankeSchweiz#MerciLaSuisse#GrazieSvizzera#GraziaSvizra pic.twitter.com/gNs6qYjOh6
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) December 2, 2019
