Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 10 Centimes 1938-1939, KM# 889, France
  • 10 Centimes 1938-1939, KM# 889, France
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.

Thin flan: 1.35-1.45 mm thickness
Thick flan: 1.50 mm thickness

Engraver: Edmond-Emile Lindauer

Obverse

Central hole divides letter R and F (Republique Française) below Phrygian cap with a decorated circle inside an oak wreath of 2 branches. Engraver's name below.

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.

R F
EM LINDAUER

Reverse

Denomination divided by an olive plant and center hole, date surrounded by dots 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 (wing, Lucien Bazor, 1931-1958) on the right middle.

LIBERTÉ·EGALITÉ
FRATERNITÉ
10 CMES
·1939·

Edge

10 Centimes

3rd Republic, Date with dots
KM# 889 Schön# 194b Gadoury# 287
Characteristics
Material Nickel Bronze
Weight 3 g
Diameter 21 mm
Thickness -
Shape round with a center hole
Alignment Coin
Alt # KM# 889.1, KM# 889.2
Mint
Paris Mint (A)

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