500 Francs / 70 Ecus Arc de Triomphe

The dual denomination — francs and écus — reflects the uneasy transitional moment France occupied in 1993, with the Maastricht Treaty freshly ratified and the European single currency still a decade away from physical reality. French monetary authorities hedged by issuing commemorative gold in both national and notional European units, a practice that felt optimistic at the time and slightly anachronistic within a few years.

The Arc de Triomphe series drew on the bicentennial momentum of earlier Monnaie de Paris commemorative programs. The .920 fineness is notably lower than the .999 issues that would dominate the following decade's output from the same mint.