Napoleon 20 francs

The Napoleon 20 francs is a French gold coin first authorised by a monetary ordinance of 28 March 1803 by Napoleon Bonaparte whilst serving as First Consul. Struck in ninety per cent pure gold, the denomination—also designated as the Franc Germinal—served as the standard French gold trade piece of the nineteenth century under successive regimes. The physical standard introduced by the coin subsequently served as the model for the gold coinage of the Latin Monetary Union, which remained in European circulation until the First World War. By extension, the name Napoleon came to be applied colloquially to later French twenty-franc gold pieces.

During the reign of Napoleon I, production was carried out not only across domestic French facilities but also at mints in annexed or occupied territories. These included establishments in Genoa, Turin, Rome, Geneva, and Utrecht, where established mint masters were retained under French administration. In 1815, following Napoleon's return during the Hundred Days, twenty-franc pieces of King Louis XVIII were struck at the London Mint using dies prepared by Thomas Wyon, Jr. after engravings by Pierre Joseph Tiolier, produced to pay British occupation forces in north-western France before diplomatic objections halted the coinage.

The 20-franc piece has a diameter of 21 millimetres and a gross weight of 6.45 grams, containing 5.807 grams of pure gold. Seven distinct varieties were issued under Napoleon, each governed by separate statutes that altered the portraiture, calendaring systems, and legends. The obverse features the profile effigy of Napoleon, depicted either bare-headed or wearing a laurel wreath, with inscriptions stating either 'Bonaparte – Premier Consul' or 'Napoléon Empereur'. The reverse legend reads 'RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE', which was altered after 1809 to read 'EMPIRE FRANÇAIS'.

The reverse must display the denomination alongside either 'RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE' or, on strikings from 1809 onwards, 'EMPIRE FRANÇAIS'.