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 Cents Pattern, purity counterstamped
| Issuer | Monnaie de Paris |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Piastre (1880-1952) |
| 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 | Seated allegorical figure of Marianne facing left, wearing a radiate crown and classical drapery, holding a fasces upright in her right hand; a sheaf of grain rises to her left. The legend REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE arcs around the upper periphery within a beaded border, with the date 1919 prominently displayed in the exergue. The engraver's name BARRE appears incuse below the date in the exergue. The composition is rendered in the refined neoclassical style characteristic of the Paris Mint. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE 1919 BARRE (Translation: French Republic) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
In 1919, the Monnaie de Paris produced a series of pattern pieces exploring potential coinage reforms in the aftermath of wartime financial disruption. This particular piece carries a purity counterstamp applied at the mint — a practice considered for French colonial and metropolitan issues where metal content verification needed to be unambiguous at point of use. The counterstamp was never adopted for circulation coinage.
Lecompte 215 is among the less frequently encountered references in French pattern literature, appearing rarely at auction outside specialized Paris sales.