Belgium 20 francs 1935 - Leopold III

The coin's story

This 20 francs coin in 680 thousandths silver was struck in 1934 and 1935, at the beginning of the reign of Leopold III. He came to the throne after the death of his father Albert I, killed in a climbing fall at Marche-les-Dames on 17 February 1934. Its bilingual reverse, in French and Dutch, brings together under a crown an ear of wheat, a quill and a laurel leaf. The portrait is the work of Marcel Rau, a Brussels sculptor and medallist trained at the Brussels Academy under Charles Van der Stappen. The 1935 date was struck in 10,760,475 pieces at the Royal Mint in Brussels, the edge inscription reads in two positions, which distinguish two varieties. The reign of Leopold III would be marked by the Second World War and the Royal Question, which led him to abdicate in 1951. The coin was demonetised on 20 June 1947.