Written by the Maison Or & Bijoux Mougins team · updated
| Country | Belgium, Italy, Switzerland |
|---|---|
| Metal | Gold, 900‰ fine (10% copper) |
| Weight | 6.45 g (6.4516 g) |
| Fine gold | 5.806 g |
| Diameter | 21 mm |
| Years struck | Belgium: 1865-1882 and 1914; Italy: 1861-1897 for the two reigns covered; Swiss Helvetia: 1883-1896 |
| Mints | Brussels (Belgium); Turin, Milan and Rome (Italy, mint marks T, M and R); Bern (Switzerland) |
| Engravers | Wiener, Devreese, Ferraris, Speranza, Walch and Bühler depending on the type |
| Edge | Depends on the country and the period |
| References | Italy 1875 R: KM 10.2, Pagani 472; Belgium 1914: Morin 281 (French legend) and 282 (Flemish legend) |
Belgium, Italy, Switzerland: three countries and three portraits, but a single standard, that of the French 20 francs. Put one of these coins on the scales: 6.45 g, 21 mm, gold at 900 thousandths, exactly like a napoléon. In a family hoard, only the legend and the face of the sovereign, or that of Helvetia, set them apart.
Three families of portraits. Belgium: the king faces right, with “LEOPOLD PREMIER” (1865 type) or “LEOPOLD II ROI DES BELGES” and the signature “L. WIENER”; in 1914, Albert I, with a French legend (“ALBERT ROI DES BELGES”) or a Flemish one (“ALBERT KONING DER BELGEN”). Italy: the king faces left, with “VITTORIO EMANUELE II”, then “UMBERTO I RE D'ITALIA”. Switzerland: Helvetia in profile, a diadem inscribed “LIBERTAS” in her hair, surrounded by “CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA”.
Belgium: shield with the lion under a crown, with “20 FRANCS” and the year. Italy: crowned shield of Savoy, the words “REGNO D'ITALIA”, “L. 20” and a mint mark. Switzerland: shield with the cross, a star above it, within a wreath of oak and olive, with “20 FR” and the date.
The table is sorted by year, all countries together. Rows with several million coins (Leopold II above all) are the coins found most often. Mintages of a few thousand or fewer, among the Helvetia of 1887, 1888, 1893 and 1895 and the first lire from Turin and Rome, are the ones that call for a careful look.
| Year | Country and type | Mint | Mintage | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1861 | Italy, Victor Emmanuel II | T | 3,267 | First year of the Kingdom of Italy. |
| 1865 | Belgium, Leopold I | Brussels | 1,558,413 | Only 20 francs type of Leopold I. |
| 1867 | Belgium, Leopold II, heavy beard | Brussels | 1,341,307 | First portrait of Leopold II. |
| 1870 | Belgium, Leopold II | Brussels | 3,191,203 | Common. |
| 1873 | Italy, Victor Emmanuel II | R | n/a | Very rare Rome date. |
| 1875 | Italy, Victor Emmanuel II | R | 51,000 | Low mintage. |
| 1877 | Belgium, Leopold II, fine beard | Brussels | 5,906,070 | Highest Belgian mintage. |
| 1882 | Belgium, Leopold II | Brussels | 522,000 | Last date of Leopold II. |
| 1882 | Italy, Umberto I | R | n/a | Most common date of the reign. |
| 1883 | Switzerland, Helvetia | Bern | 250,000 | First year of the type. |
| 1887 | Switzerland, Helvetia | Bern | 176 | Great rarity. |
| 1888 | Switzerland, Helvetia | Bern | 4,224 | Very low mintage. |
| 1893 | Italy, Umberto I | R | 41,214 | Uncommon date. |
| 1893 | Switzerland, Helvetia (Gondo gold) | Bern | 25 | Small punch mark on the shield. |
| 1895 | Switzerland, Helvetia (Gondo gold) | Bern | 19 | Same mark. |
| 1896 | Switzerland, Helvetia | Bern | 400,000 | Last and highest year. |
| 1914 | Belgium, Albert I | Brussels | 125,000 | French or Flemish legend; combined mintage. |
A selection of dates, not a complete list. Belgium: StashOfCoins and CoinVarieties, cross-checked for 1875, 1876 and 1882, Numisview for 1914. Italy: CoinVarieties (1875 R), NumisBids (1861 T), CollectorsKey (1893). Switzerland: Kettner Edelmetalle and Bdor, whose figures agree.
A box found in a house in the hills behind the coast often mixes French napoléons with a few foreign gold coins of the same size. To separate them without damaging anything, work in this order.
Slip each coin into its own envelope, with a pencilled label: country, sovereign, year. This is enough to find the low-mintage dates in the table of dates, especially the Helvetia of 1887 and 1888 and the 20 lire struck in Rome under Victor Emmanuel II. Never rub a coin to read a date: a loupe and a low-angled lamp do better.
Before he reigned over Italy, Victor Emmanuel II was King of Sardinia, a state whose capital was Turin. From 1816, this kingdom struck in Turin and Genoa a lira pegged to the franc, at the same weight and fineness. Its 20 lire from before 1861 therefore have the size of the Union coins, but their legend gives the title of King of Sardinia, without “REGNO D'ITALIA”.
In 1861, the Sardinian lira became the lira of the new Kingdom of Italy. Under Victor Emmanuel II, three mints produced 20 lire: Turin (T), Milan (M), then Rome (R) in the 1870s. In Turin and Milan, the letter comes with the initials “BN”, those of the Banca Nazionale. The reign totals about 11.7 million coins from 1861 to 1878, but the first Turin year left only a few thousand. Umberto I had about 8.8 million struck from 1879 to 1897, all in Rome; his years 1884, 1889, 1891, 1893 and 1897 are the least often seen.
Italians call these coins marenghi. The name goes back to the 20 francs gold coin issued by the Subalpine Republic to celebrate Bonaparte's victory at Marengo on 14 June 1800. It then spread to the 20 lire of the Union, just as “napoléon” did in France.
Belgian coins. The portrait of Leopold II first has a thick, coarsely detailed beard (1867-1870), then a finer one. Turn the coin on its vertical axis: depending on the date, the reverse appears upright or inverted, two positions recorded by the catalogues. One 1865 variety shows a misspelt signature, “L. WINNER”.
Helvetia. On the 1893 and 1895 dates, a tiny punch mark in the centre of the shield and a paler gold point to metal mined at Gondo, in the Valais: a few dozen coins in all.
Wear. The first areas to flatten are the beard and the hair above the ear of Leopold II, the moustache of the Italian kings, the hair and diadem of Helvetia. On the reverse, follow the manes of the Belgian lions, the cross and collar around the shield of Savoy, the leaves of the Swiss wreath. Solder or a ring mark on the edge reveals an old jewellery mount; fine parallel scratches, a cleaning. The grading scale is described in the guide to coin grades (in French).
Fakes. Rare Italian dates are the most copied, to the point that a large share of the examples offered are said to be counterfeits, some of them in gold. Check the weight, the diameter, the sharpness of the edge and the logic between sovereign, year and mint: an Umberto I marked T or M should raise doubts. The method is set out in the guide to spotting a fake coin (in French).
The 21 mm, 6.45 g module was taken up well beyond the four founding countries, hence frequent confusion.
For half a century, these coins therefore moved from one member country to another, before lying dormant in safes and drawers.
Until 1860, Mougins belonged, with the whole Grasse area, to the Var département, and the river Var separated France from the County of Nice, a land of the House of Savoy and the Kingdom of Sardinia. On the other side of the border, people paid in Sardinian lire, struck since 1816 at the same weight and fineness as the franc. The Treaty of Turin of 24 March 1860 joined Nice to France, and the Grasse arrondissement became part of the new Alpes-Maritimes département. This border history explains why 20 lire so often sit alongside napoléons in estates from Mougins and the hills around Grasse.
Because these coins circulated freely between the countries of the Latin Monetary Union from 1865 to 1914, and Italy is very close. Until 1860, Nice even belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia, whose lira was pegged to the franc.
They are the initials of the Banca Nazionale. They appear on coins of Victor Emmanuel II struck in Turin (T) or Milan (M). Coins from Rome (R) do not carry them.
Yes, if it is a Helvetia (1883-1896): head with a diadem marked “LIBERTAS” and the legend “CONFOEDERATIO HELVETICA”. The mountains only appear with the Vreneli, from 1897.
No: it was struck for the Kingdom of Sardinia, before Italian unification and before the 1865 convention. It nevertheless follows the same standard, 6.45 g of gold at 900 thousandths. A free valuation makes it possible to identify it precisely.