20 Francs Marianne

The type is apparently very easy to complete in FDC but those found are virtually all late official reprints. 202,359 copies, with the 1914 year of issue, were struck in 1921. 37,483,500 examples of the 20 franc gold rooster coin have also been officially recirculated since the reopening of the gold market in 1948 (precisely between 1951 and 1960 inclusive), dated from 1907 to 1914, in order to reconstitute the stocks of gold recirculated or lost during the two World Wars.

These recasts used “old instruments” and therefore original dies. They can be distinguished quite easily with a little practice: the gold of the refrappes is very red (presence of a higher proportion of copper in the alloy), their striking quality is better, one feels more powerful presses, and the polishing of the corners is practically invisible.

The problem of identification arises especially for the perfect specimens, the refrappes having by definition not circulated. The original strikes are identified by their more yellow gold, their “standard” striking quality with often velvet and their polishing stripes on the corners visible with a magnifying glass and in the axis of the coin. The easiest way is to compare with 1899/1906 specimens which cannot be refrappes.