Over the last few years, one of the Monnaie De Paris signature coins, the Sower, has been celebrating the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the Euro. 

Starting in 2014, the Sower series offers a new concept: Seven years depicting the most historically significant coins of France’s history. As a start, Monnaie de Paris pays tribute to its first years: The Edict of Pîtres, signed by Charles the Bald in 864, establishing the ten official minting workshops; hence the representation of the denier struck by the parisian’s workshop at this date. That makes it the 1150th anniversary of Monnaie de Paris, a staggering achievement and one that makes it the oldest institution in the world.

It’s a beautiful coin and something the Paris mint does exceptionally well. They’re also responsible for one of the finest modern precious metal coin series available today, ‘From Clovis to Republic’, a series of 15 coins released over 5 years celebrating the currency and leaders of France.

There are four versions of the coin available, three gold and a silver. The gold coins are of 0.920 quality and the silver 0.900, both quite typical of Euro coins.

The Sower on the obverse is the same as that on previous issues of the coin with only the date changing, and features an image of the Sower by Roty, along with twelve stars standing for the twelve founding countries of the Eurozone.

The reverse depicts in the background, a facsimilé of the Edict of Pîtres, over which are depicted the obverse and the reverse of the first Denier struck in Paris (‘PARISII’ mentionned on the edge of the coin) bearing Charles the Bald’s number, Charles the Great’s grandson. The royal seal with the king’s profile in latin imperator and the latin motto  « GLORIA SIT XPO REGI VICTORIA CARLO »  (« May the Glory be with  the Christ and the Victory with King Charles ») seals all these elements.

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