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250 Euros Libertas Americana
| Issuer | Monnaie de Paris |
|---|---|
| Year | 2023 |
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| Engraver(s) | Augustin Dupré |
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| Obverse description | Allegorical scene in the neoclassical style after the original 1782 medal by Augustin Dupré: the helmeted and armed figure of Minerva, personifying France, extends her lily-adorned shield to protect the infant Hercules — representing the nascent American republic — who is shown seated on a military shield in swaddling clothes, strangling two serpents symbolizing the British victories reversed at Saratoga (1777) and Yorktown (1781). A crouching leopard, representing Britain, is repelled in the lower field. The exergue and field carry the dates 17 19 OCT. 1777. 1781, the engraver's signature DUPRÉ F, and the mint mark RF 2023. The surrounding legend, drawn from Horace's Odes, Book III, reads NON SINE DIIS ANIMOSUS INFANS. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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The original Libertas Americana medal was struck in Paris in 1782 at Benjamin Franklin's personal initiative — he designed the concept himself and distributed examples to French court officials as diplomatic currency, cementing the Franco-American alliance in metal. The Monnaie de Paris has returned to that source material repeatedly, but the 500g format positions this squarely as a collector object rather than a continuation of any circulation tradition.
Franklin's original 1782 dies were by Augustin Dupré, who later engraved the Flowing Hair coinage for the young United States Mint.