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20 Francs - Petain Simon
| Issuer | État français (Vichy France) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | KM#Pn107 |
| Obverse description | Left-facing bust of Philippe Pétain, depicted as an elderly man with distinctive wavy hair, rendered in high relief with fine portrait detail characteristic of engraver Georges Simon. The effigy fills the central field with a naturalistic, sculptural quality. The circular legend reads PHILIPPE PETAIN around the lower portion, with MARECHAL DE FRANCE CHEF DE L'ETAT continuing around the upper periphery, separated by a dot. The portrait is unadorned and austere, consistent with the official iconography of the Vichy regime. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | PHILIPPE PETAIN. MARECHAL DE FRANCE. CHEF DE L'ETAT. |
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| Additional information |
KM#Pn107 designates this as a pattern strike, not a circulating issue — the Petain Simon 20 Francs never entered production. The Vichy regime commissioned multiple competing designs during 1941 as it worked to replace Republican coinage with imagery aligned to the National Revolution, and most were rejected outright. Aluminium bronze was itself a concession to wartime metal shortages, with nickel and copper increasingly diverted to German industrial demands under the armistice terms.
The Simon attribution refers to the engraver Lucien Simon, whose submitted design lost out in the selection process.