City daily photo theme day: Metal
The first of the month is theme day for the daily city photo blogging community and this August the topic is metal. As August 1st happens to be the Swiss national day, I wanted to combine the two.
Helvetia is the Roman name for the region of Europe between the Alps and the Jura. She personifies Switzerland, as seen on these coins. The Swiss confederation, Confœderatio Helvetica, was formed on August 1, 1291. For those of you who might have puzzled over it, that's the reason CH is the country abbreviation for Switzerland (source: Wikipedia). Incidentally, the typeface Helvetica? Developed at a Swiss type foundry in 1957 by designer Max Miedinger.
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20080801 Nikon Coolpix 950
20 comments:
You were right about mine, of course. I was putting the explanation up as you were leaving your comment. To me it was so obvious ...
Great choice for today. The first one to show money - now why didn't I think of that? Nice photo too.
And I did indeed wonder why CH = Switzerland so thank you for that info.
Hah - Jilly beat me to it by seconds. I never did know why the CH. And yes, money is so easy to overlook. Your image is very sparkly ...
Neat combination!
Great choice for 'Metal'! :-)
Nice shot too.
Greetings
Nicely combined. Thanks for the type history, as well.
Very interesting commentary. 1291. Amazing. The coins are a great idea for today's theme.
I like the sharp detail and all the history - that's interesting to know about the widely used type face. I used to live in Sacramento, California, which the Swiss settler John Sutter called New Helvetia.
Excellent choice! And happy National Day! Nothing better than kicking off the weekend with a Friday holiday!
Happy Theme Day!
Janet
ooh, cold hard cash. I like that metal. :-)
Happy National Day, Z.
Your choice of Switzerland's coins with Helvetia icon on them is perfect both for the commemoration of your National Day and the theme day.
I echo what others have said. I think I might have a few of these kicking round in a jar somewhere from a long-ago trip.
Sydney Daily Photo
great photo, it captures well both themes and informative too, you can't ask more :)
just curious, do you use the euro there or is the coin from the pre-euro days??
Yes ! Great choice ! Your picture is very beautiful. I think Ch mreans "Confédération Helvétique".
I hope yesterday has been a great day for you !
Thank you all of you, for coming by and taking the time to comment! I always really get into these macro shots...
Rafa: The Swiss franc is definitely still going strong. If I have my source right, it is the fifth most traded currency in the world (after the USD, the Euro, the Japanese Yen and the British pound.)
Claude: By choosing the Latin form Confœderatio Helvetica as the official name, any favoritism to one of the four Swiss language groups is avoided!
Hi there..what a nice shot to show the combination of both subjects.
Thanks for sharing the info on the origin of CH and Helvetica.
Excellent and stunning pictures ...as always on your blog! I like to drop in from time to time!
Have a nice Sunday!
Awesome choice for the theme day.... i am hitting myself on the head thinking y i did not come up with this... hehehehehe :D
Well done and appreciate the typography trivia. Your macro work is exceptional.
I guess I never made it over here for the theme day. Money is an obvious choice, but one I hadn't thought of!
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