Owner Comments:
Composition: Gold (.900)
Weight: 6.451 g
Diameter: 21 mm
Thickness: 1.25 mm
Coin Alignment ↑↓
Milled
Demonetized 25 Jun 1928
KM#857
AGW: 0.1867 oz AGW
Obverse:
A Left-facing, right profile of Marianne wearing the Phrygian cap and a crown of oak branches. The Legend reads “Republique Francaise” and the name of the engraver (JC Chaplain) is in small text near Marianne’s neck.
Reverse:
The reverse features a rooster with a swollen bust walking to the left on a ground line decorated with grass and flowers, surrounded by the French motto (“Liberté Égalité Fraternité”). The denomination also shows the denomination with the “20” to the left of the rooster and the “Fcs” for Francs to the right of the bird. The date is at the bottom, below the ground line, with the mint mark for the Paris mint and the mark for the General Coin Engraver at the mint from 1896-1930, Henri-Auguste-Jules Patey.
The edge also features the French motto in embossed lettering.
Engraver (Both Sides): Jules-Clément Chaplain
I picked this coin up in early 2018 as part of a growing interest in pre-WWI, late-19th and early 20th century European gold coins, beyond the Netherlands 10G set I've been working on since 2009. This coin was made in the last year before the start of WWI and 1914 - the start of the war, was the last year this design was issued.