Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Centimes - Rainier III Essai
| Issuer | Principality of Monaco |
|---|---|
| Year | 1962 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 Centimes (0.20 MCF) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central design features a standing robed figure of Saint Devote, the patron saint of Monaco, depicted facing forward and holding an upright sword before her, with the quartered lozenge shield of Monaco to her left, surmounted by a princely crown in the upper left field. The large numeral 20 and the denomination legend CENTIMES appear in bold relief to the right of the figure. The motto DEO JUVANTE is split across the left field, with DEO above and JUVANTE below, flanking the heraldic shield. The word ESSAI is inscribed in the lower right field, confirming this piece as a pattern strike. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Monnaie de Paris, Paris (and Pessac starting 1973), France |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Essai pieces from Monaco's 1962 coinage reform were produced in extremely limited numbers — typically fewer than a few hundred strikes — as trial submissions required under French monetary practice before production authorization. This particular gold essai exists almost entirely in institutional and specialist collections.
The 1962 reform itself followed Monaco's renegotiation of its monetary convention with France, aligning the principality's coinage with the nouveau franc system introduced by de Gaulle in 1960.