Depicts Marianne wearing a Phrygian cap, left, surrounded by the country name. Beneath, the signature of the engraver Augustin Dupré. The whole design reproduces the coinage of the First French Republic.

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 Augustin Dupré (1748–1833) was the 14th Graveur général des monnaies (Engraver General of Currency). When the republic was proclaimed, Dupré engraved the bulk of the new revolutionary decimal currency. He introduced the 5 Franc silver piece stamped with the image of Hercules, Union et Force which marked the renaissance of the Franc, and the coins of 1 Centime, 5 Centimes, 1 Décime and 2 Décimes with the head of the Republic wearing the Phrygian cap.

Depicts a wreath encircling the facial value. On the outer periphery is the motto "Liberty • Equality • Fraternity".

Date below surrounded by the Paris mintmark (left, Cornucopia) and privy mark of mint's director (right, dolphin, Emile Rousseau).

Engraver: Pierre-Joseph Tiolier