Legal tender
The Swiss franc is also the currency used for administrative and accounting purposes by most of the numerous international organisations that are headquartered in Switzerland.
Postage stamps and postal history of Switzerland
All of the preceding issues were declared invalid on 1 October 1854, and replaced with the seated allegorical figure "Helvetia", the first of several issues known as "seated Helvetias". The figure was embossed but only the outline was colored, making it rather hard to pick out. This was the first issue to deal with the multiple languages of Switzerland; in addition to the word "FRANCO" at the top, the other three sides listed the denomination in rappen, centimes, and (Italian) centesimi.