1974 Frank

[gpimper]

Just another of the neat coins I've picked up on my travels.

[Figleaf]

Oscar Roty's name is below Marianne's feet. His design remains wildly popular in France, figuring on coins, stamps, seals, logos and letter heads. Yet, that is maybe something of a coincidence, called Charles de Gaulle. He was born in 1890. Roty's design was introduced in 1901. In the first world war, the silver coins were hoarded and disappeared from circulation. After the first world war, they became symbols of pre-war prosperity and peace.

That is probably what they meant to Charles de Gaulle also. In the second world war, he rose to national leader. In 1960, De Gaulle reformed the French franc, by introducing a new franc, worth 100 old francs. De Gaulle, now 70, took the opportunity to re-introduce Roty's design. He wanted the coins to be silver, as the coins of his youth, but that was possible only for the 5 francs, until the oil crisis led to the withdrawal of the last French silver coin in circulation.

The reverse shows a branch of olive. This is significant, as olive trees grow commercially only in the Mediterranean coastal area of France. Therefore, it is not a national symbol, but a peace symbol. The sign at the left of the date is the sign (différent) of the director of the Paris mint. The one on the right is the sign of its chief engraver.

Peter