@willieboyd2 Fascinating history. I had no idea. Thank you for sharing the poster image as well as your great coin!
Yes, the artistic quality and intricate details do seem to rival St. Gaudens! Thank you for making the comparison.
@Cucumbor Thank you for sharing your coins! All wonderful examples. I especially like the design with the angel inscribing the tablet.
You're right Dave, I should have been more specific : all the coins bearing the DIEU PROTEGE LA FRANCE edge are originals, not all of the others are restrikes, but all the restrikes have the LIBERTE EGALITE FRATERNITE edge. And you're right again, the copper content of the restrikes is slightly higher, hence the more reddish appearence. Also, they don't show circulation wear as they were massively hoarded (and you couldn't pay with gold by the time they were minted), thus most of them are about UNC or UNC Q
The edge lettering on mine says LIBERTE EGALITE FRATERNITE so as mentioned earlier, probably a restrike.
A tip for French 20-franc gold rooster (or Coq Marianne) set registrants... Rooster collectors are a notoriously quiet lot. Most of the earlier "originals" 1899-1906, reside primarily in Europe (in PCGS holders) while most of the "restrikes" are available in the United States (in NGC holders). No TPGS has ever certified any Rooster in Mint State 68 condition (and most of the originals are rarely found or available in upper-tier grades.