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Belgian franc: from 1948 until the euro

Started by <k>, April 08, 2019, 08:56:35 PM

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bart

The allegorical themes were chosen to represent industry (miner), agriculture (Ceres) and trade (Mercurius)

Figleaf

Quote from: chrisild on April 10, 2019, 09:30:28 PM
That branch on the 20F coin is a laurel twig, according to Schön anyway ...

The leaves of olive and laurel are very similar. Symbolically, they are practically opposites, though: laurel stands for victory, olive for peace. In heraldry and usually on wreaths, olive is pictured with fruits, laurel without them. As this design has fruits and as poor Belgium has few victories to boast of, yet a great interest in peace, there is good case for the branch to be olive.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

chrisild

Then again, olive trees are probably rare in Belgium while laurel plants can be found in pretty much any region where the winters do not get too harsh. We have them here (Rhineland) too - and if you look at this bit ... "la Belgique est connue pour ses pépinières spécialisées dans la culture de laurier noble." Now if it is the symbolic meaning of the twig that counts here, then I agree, olive is more likely.

Edit - Wikipedia suggests laurel too. Do a search for "laurier" on that page ...

Christian

<k>

Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

<k>

#79


Belgium, 20 francs, 1980.

Up to 1980, the Belgian post-WW2 designs looked more French in style.

That is also true of the style of font, in this case:





Rwanda, 20 francs, 1977.

Now look at the font on this Rwandan coin.

It is the work of French sculptor Raymond Joly:





Belgium, 1 franc, 1991.

Usually you would expect a more formal style of font on a circulation coin.

And that is what you see on the Belgian coins that were issued from 1986 onwards:
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

chrisild

Both the first and the last coin in the previous post were designed by the sculptor Harry Elstrøm by the way. Interestingly he was born in Berlin, Germany as a son of a Danish father and a British mother, then studied in Dresden. In the late 1920s he moved to Brussels ...

Christian

<k>

#81
Belgium - trials.jpg

Belgium: two brass essai 5 francs coins of 1986.


See:  Numisbids.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

<k>

#82
See also:  Patterns from Belgium.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

bart

Quote from: chrisild on April 10, 2019, 09:30:28 PM
That branch on the 20F coin is a laurel twig, according to Schön anyway ...

According "De Belgische Frank", the encyclopedia about Belgian coins issued by the Belgian Royal Mint, the branch on the 20 franc is officially a olive branch.

<k>

Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

chrisild

Quote from: bart on April 11, 2019, 07:26:46 PM
According "De Belgische Frank", the encyclopedia about Belgian coins issued by the Belgian Royal Mint, the branch on the 20 franc is officially a olive branch.

Hmm, when it comes to Belgian coins, I tend to believe that those who design and make them know what they depict. ;) Thank you!

Christian

eurocoin

Quote from: bart on April 10, 2019, 09:40:18 PM
The allegorical themes were chosen to represent industry (miner), agriculture (Ceres) and trade (Mercurius)

That clears things up to some extent. There is also a god of industry though (Vulcan) so it is somewhat surprising they did not use that one too. In general I do not think it is a good idea to use gods on coins though.

<k>

Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.