The 20-franc gold piece is the backbone of French numismatics and the coin that set Europe’s gold standard — struck continuously from Napoleon’s 1803 reform through 1914 in designs spanning Napoleon I, Louis XVIII, Charles X, Louis-Philippe, Napoleon III, and the Third Republic’s Marianne Rooster. Collectors hunt it as the original “Napoléon,” the most liquid pre-1933 European gold coin family. This entry covers the series’ specifications, the major design types, and what distinguishes the Rooster subtype.
Key facts
- All 20-franc French gold issues: 6.45g total weight, .900 fine gold, 21mm diameter, 0.1867 oz actual gold content — unchanged from 1803.
- Napoleon I issues (Consulate/First Empire) ran 1802–1815 in several bust varieties (bare head, laureate head), with early dates in the Revolutionary calendar (An XI–XIV).
- Napoleon III issues (1852–1870, Paris and branch mints) come in bare-head (1853–1860) and laureate-head (1861–1870) types.
- The Marianne Rooster design by J.C. Chaplain was issued 1899–1914; obverse Marianne, reverse Gallic rooster with LIBERTÉ ÉGALITÉ FRATERNITÉ.
- The denomination anchored the Latin Monetary Union, so equivalent 20-unit gold pieces were also struck by Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy to the same spec.