Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 5 Centimes 1898-1921, KM# 842, France
  • 5 Centimes 1898-1921, KM# 842, France
  • 5 Centimes 1898-1921, KM# 842, France, Madrid Mint (★ mark)
Description

The French Third Republic was the system of government adopted in France from 1870 when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War until 1940 when France's defeat by Nazi Germany in World War II led to the formation of the Vichy government in France.

Engraver: Jean-Baptiste Daniel-Dupuis

Obverse

Marianne wearing a Phrygian cap, right, surrounded by the country name, engraver's name incuse bottom left.

Marianne is a national symbol of the French Republic, an allegory of liberty and reason, and a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. It is a significant republican symbol, opposed to monarchy, and an icon of freedom and democracy against all forms of dictatorship.

The Phrygian cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, associated in antiquity with several peoples in Eastern Europe and Anatolia, including Phrygia, Dacia, and the Balkans. In early modern Europe it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty through a confusion with the pileus, the felt cap of manumitted (emancipated) slaves of ancient Rome. Accordingly, the Phrygian cap sometimes is called a liberty cap.

REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE
DANIEL-DUPUIS

Reverse

Republic protecting her child, denomination at the right, date below. The national motto of France (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) above.

Mintmark of the Paris Mint (Cornucopia) on the left and a privy mark of Chief Engraver (torch, Henri Auguste Patey, 1896-1930) on the right.

Madrid mintmark (1916) star (★) below the torch.

LIBERTE EGALITE FRATERNITE
5 c
DANIEL-DUPUIS 1907

Edge

5 Centimes

3rd Republic
KM# 842 Schön# 182 Gadoury# 165
Characteristics
Material Bronze
Weight 5 g
Diameter 25 mm
Thickness 1.3 mm
Shape round
Alignment Coin
Mints
Paris Mint (A)
Royal Spanish Mint (FNMT-RCM)

Related coins

Directory

Copper, 5 g, ⌀ 23 mm
Directory

Bronze, 10 g, ⌀ 28 mm
2nd Empire

Bronze, 5 g, ⌀ 25 mm