By Le Figaro with AFP
Published yesterday at 3:02 p.m., Updated 8 hours ago
Simone Veil, Joséphine Baker and Marie Curie were chosen from among the seven women who rest in the Pantheon. Adobe Stock
The Paris Mint has unveiled the new faces of the coins which will honor pantheonized women. They will be put into circulation this summer.
Heads, nothing changes, tails, the cents become more feminine. The Paris Mint revealed on Wednesday the new faces of the 10, 20 and 50 centime coins which will be decorated with the chiseled profiles of Simone Veil, Joséphine Baker and Marie Curie. « Three exceptional womenadds the institution. Sources of daily inspiration for everyone. »
The design of the new coins, imagined by the general engraver of the Paris Mint Joaquin Jimenez, places in the center the profile of three of the seven women who rest in the Pantheon, with their names engraved, looking in the same direction as a Sower, symbol appearing on French coins for 120 years, in the foreground. Auschwitz survivor, figure in European politics and the fight for women’s rights, Simone Veil will be the face of the 10 centime coins, detailed the Paris Mint, two days following the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution.
Marie Curie already on the 500 franc note
« My mother would have said “ History has shown us that universal Fraternity must be learned, whereas it should be natural » ; I am proud that today she embodies our republican values », welcomed in the press release Brian Bouillon Baker, son of the artist, resistance fighter and feminist and anti-racist activist Joséphine Baker, first black woman pantheonized in 2021, who will appear on the 20 cent coins. Marie Curie, the two-time Nobel Prize-winning French scientist, had already appeared on the latest 500 franc note and several collector’s coins before becoming the new face of the 50 centime coins.
Each minted euro coin has a European side, the reverse, and a national side, the face, which can only be changed every fifteen years. The new coins will gradually be put into circulation by the summer of 2024, specifies the Monnaie de Parie, responsible for minting the currency. The French side of the 1 and 2 euro coins was renewed on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the euro. Old parts will remain usable. « The three personalities selected to appear on these coins are the symbol of a strong attachment to the values of the Republic and a source of daily inspiration for all. »declared Marc Schwartz, CEO of Monnaie de Paris, quoted in a press release.
