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 Euros Sleeping Beauty
| Issuer | Monnaie de Paris |
|---|---|
| Year | 2003 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Euro (2002-date) |
| 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 | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse presents a richly detailed fairy-tale scene depicting the Sleeping Beauty legend. To the left, a young princess is shown in flowing robes, her head tilted upward in a pose of wonder or enchantment. In the central and right field, a fearsome dragon with an open maw dominates the middle ground, rendered with expressive detail. Rising dramatically in the background is a multi-turreted Gothic castle, its spires reaching toward the upper field. The curved legend 'LA BELLE AU BOIS DORMANT' arcs along the upper rim in stylized lettering, naming the fairy tale subject of the design. |
| 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 |
Issued as part of Monnaie de Paris's ongoing fairy tale series, this piece draws on Charles Perrault's 1697 version of the tale rather than the Grimm retelling — a distinction the French mint has been deliberate about. Perrault's "La Belle au Bois Dormant" was published in Paris, which gave the series a degree of national literary grounding that pure fantasy subjects typically lack.
The .920 fineness is a holdover from older French gold coinage traditions, notably the Napoleonic 20-franc standard, which ran at the same purity for over a century.