Editing Napoléon (coin) (section)

==="The Euro before the Euro"===
Although the portraits and legends changed with the political changes in France, the denomination remained in usage until [[World War I]] under what was known as the [[Latin Monetary Union]], the "Euro before the Euro", so-to-speak. Switzerland had 20 [[Swiss franc]] pieces, Spain had 20 [[Spanish peseta|peseta]] coins, Italy had 20 [[Italian lira|lira]] pieces, Belgium had 20 [[Belgian franc]] coins, and Greece had 20 [[Modern drachma|drachma]] coins, all of which circulated and were accepted throughout Europe. Only for political reasons did the United Kingdom and the [[German Empire]] refuse to follow this direction. Attempts were even taken to explore the unification of the European currency with the American dollar, which explains the extremely rare [[Stella (United States coin)|U.S. pattern coins]] carrying $4 marking on the face and 25 franc markings on the reverse.{{Citation needed|reason=No sources cited; paragraph is at odds with the Latin Monetary Union page|date=February 2014}}

[[File:An XI Obv.JPG|frame|Obverse of the Bonaparte Premier Consul struck in 1803 at Paris, the first year of issue. Note the youthful portrait of Napoleon and compare to later issues reflecting contemporaneous appearances of the Emperor. Engravers: Jean-Pierre Droz (1746–1823) & Pierre-Joseph Tiolier (1763–1819).]]
[[File:An XI Rev.JPG|frame|Reverse of the same coin 1803 Paris (AN XI indicates the 11th year after the French Revolution, or the latter part of 1803). A coin not often seen (58,262 were minted), this example exhibits Extra Fine details for a 206-year-old coin. The "A" denotes the Paris mint and the rooster denotes the mint master Charles-Pierre de l'Espine (1797–1821). Napoleon ordered coins struck in year 11 to be dated with Roman numerals fearing that Arabic numeral eleven would look like a two in Roman numerals and thus remind the public of the horrors of the Reign of Terror which occurred in the year 2.<ref>Pond, S., Napoleon Emperor of the French Republic, Selections from the Numismatist, Modern Foreign Currency, Whitman Publishing Company, Racine, Wis., 1961, pp. 161-66 at p. 161.</ref>]]