20 Francs pattern of Turin

The Turin pattern of 1929 was the work of Joseph Turin, chief engraver at the Monnaie de Paris from 1930 and already its dominant artistic force through the late 1920s. This piece was part of a broader competition to redesign French circulating coinage following years of postwar monetary instability — the franc had lost roughly 80% of its prewar value by the mid-1920s, and the Poincaré stabilization of 1928 created both the political will and the practical need for a new coinage. Turin's 20 Francs design ultimately lost to other priorities; France never issued a circulating 20 Franc coin in this period.

Aluminum bronze was the material of the moment — lighter and cheaper than gold, it had already been adopted for the 1929 reforming of smaller denominations.