Tunisia 1893-A 20 francs
This specimen was lot 75598 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, September 2024), where it sold for $552. The catalog description[1] noted, "TUNISIA. 20 Francs, AH 1310-A (1893). Paris Mint. Ali III. PCGS AU-55. Very lightly handled, this example stands as a charming representative of the emission." Tunisia, nominally subject to the Ottoman empire since the sixteenth century, survived on piracy. This eventually became unacceptable to the seafaring powers, who quashed the pirates in the 1820's. The ruling beys, deprived of revenue, attempted to reform the state but only succeeded in incurring a large foreign debt. Bankruptcy was declared in 1869 and was used in 1881 as the pretext for French occupation. This type was struck 1891-1902 during the French occupation. AH 1310 is known also with AD date 1892. Gold twenty francs were struck to the standard of the Franc Germinal until 1928, long after metropolitan France had abandoned it.
Recorded mintage: 35,000.
Specification: 6.45 g, 0.900 fine gold, 21 mm diameter, 0.1867 troy oz AGW.
Catalog reference: Fr-12; KM-227; Lec-446.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, September 2024 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2024.
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