Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 20 Francs 1972-2005, KM# 12, New Caledonia
  • 20 Francs 1972-2005, KM# 12, New Caledonia
Description

New Caledonia (French: Nouvelle-Calédonie) is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia and 16,136 km (10,026 mi) east of Metropolitan France.

Engraver: Raymond Joly

Obverse

Marianne wearing a Phrygian cap, left, surrounded by the country name (French Republic), date below.

The Institut d'émission d'outre-mer (IEOM) issues the CFP Franc, the currency of the French overseas collectivities French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna.

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.

RÉPVBLIQVE FRANÇAISE
R•JOLY
I•E•O•M
•1996•

Reverse

Depicts three ox heads, surrounded by the territory name (New Caledonia), value below.

Mintmark of the Paris Mint (Monnaie de Paris in Pessac): Cornucopia (horn of plenty)

The directors of the Paris Mint use the following mint master's marks:
1958–1974: Owl (Raymond Joly)
1974–1994: Dolphin (Emile Rousseau)
1994–2000: Bee (Pierre Rodier)
2001–2002: Horseshoe (Gérard Buquoy)
2003: Heart (Serge Levet)
2004–2010: Hunting horn (Hubert Larivière)

Monogram of the Atelier de Gravure des Monnaies et Médailles (letters "agmm") below the value. The atelier is the art-studio of the Paris Mint.

NOUVELLE-CALEDONIE
20f

Edge

20 Francs

KM# 12 Schön# 14
Characteristics
Material Nickel
Weight 10 g
Diameter 28.5 mm
Thickness -
Shape round
Alignment Coin
Mint
Paris Mint (A)

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