Marianne wearing a Phrygian cap, left, surrounded by the country name.

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.

Engraver: Henri Lagriffoul

Depicts facial value in the centre, surrounded by a wheat ear and an olive branch. The national motto of France (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) above.

Mint mark: Cornucopia, horn of plenty (Paris Mint - Paris until 1972 or Pessac from 1973).

Privy marks of the Mint's Chief Engravers:
• Owl - Raymond Joly (1962-1974)
• Dolphin - Emile Rousseau (1975-1993)
• Bee - Pierre Rodier (1994-2000)
• Horseshoe - Gérard Buquoi (2001)

Engraver: Adrien Dieudonné