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 Francs Piedfort
| Issuer | Monnaie de Paris |
|---|---|
| Year | 1929 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1795-1959) |
| 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 | Left-facing effigy of Marianne, the allegorical personification of the French Republic, rendered in high relief in the Art Deco style by engraver Pierre Turin. She wears a Phrygian cap adorned with a laurel wreath, her hair styled in tight curls visible at the neck. The legend REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE arcs along the upper rim, with the engraver's signature P. TURIN incused below the truncation of the bust. The field is plain and slightly convex, characteristic of piedfort striking, with a beaded border encircling the design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE P . TURIN (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 |
Piéforts — struck at double or greater thickness on standard dies — were produced by the Monnaie de Paris primarily as presentation pieces and archival specimens rather than for any circulation purpose. The 1929 date falls within the interwar stabilization of the franc under the Poincaré reforms of 1926–28, when France returned to a de facto gold standard after the catastrophic depreciation of the early 1920s. That monetary reorganization prompted fresh coinage production, and piéforts of this period were typically retained by the mint's own archives or distributed to official recipients.
Surviving examples are genuinely rare. The .680 fine silver alloy is identical to the circulation strikes.