Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 1 Franc 1931-1941, KM# 885, France
  • 1 Franc 1931-1941, KM# 885, France
Description

This design was suspended by the Vichy regime in favour of the Francisque type. When the Morlon type was resumed in 1944, after the Liberation, it was struck in aluminium.

Engraver: Pierre-Alexandre Morlon

Obverse

Marianne wearing a Phrygian cap, left, surrounded by the country name, engraver's name on the middle 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
MORLON

Reverse

Cornucopias flank denomination and date. The national motto of France (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) above.

Paris Mint: date surrounded by the mintmark (Cornucopia) on the left and privy mark of Chief Engraver (wing, Lucien Georges Bazor)

LIBERTE-EGALITE
FRATERNITE
1
FRANC
1939

Edge

1 Franc

3rd Republic
KM# 885 Gadoury# 470 Schön# 200
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Characteristics
Material Aluminium Bronze
Weight 4 g
Diameter 23 mm
Thickness 1.7 mm
Shape round
Alignment Coin
Alt # KM# E-B64
Mint
Paris Mint (A)

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