Also known as Tunisie Franc, the Tunisia Gold Franc coin ranks highly among the gold coins of Northern African origin in terms of demand. Issued by the Paris Mint (Monnaie de Paris) between 1891 and 1904 when Tunisia became a protectorate of France, the Tunisia Gold France substituted the rial at the rate of 60 centimes per rial. However, France continued issuing the Tunisie France until 1958 after which the Dinar replaced it in 1960.
The Tunisie gold Franc is available in denominations of 100, 20 and 10 coins. However, the silver versions of these two denominations also surfaced later after 1928. Essentially, it is more difficult to find a Tunisia 10 gold franc than a 20. Even then, it is estimated that only three million of the Tunisia 20 Gold Franc were minted during the 1891 to 1904 period. Since then, most of these coins have either vanished or been melted down. This elevates their relative scarcity and their demand among popular collectors in the process.
The gold and monetary value of the 10-franc coins is higher than that of the 20 coin. This is because the 10-franc coin has more troy ounces of gold than the 20-franc coin besides being rarer. It spans 18 millimeters in diameter and weighs 0.933 troy ounces of gold. On the other hand, the 20-franc one is 22 millimeters wide, but weighs only 0.187 troy ounces of gold despite a gross weight of 5.81 grams. Normally, the Tunisia 20 Gold Franc coins that were minted in 1894, 1895, 1896, and 1902 tend to have a comparatively low mintage even when full uncirculated than the others minted in the other years that fall between 1891 and 1904.
The Tunisia Gold Franc coin tells the historical power struggle for control over Tunisia by the Ottoman and French Empires. The observe contains Arabic inscription surrounded by two illustrations of twigs. The reverse has the name, Tunisie, the value, text, and year surrounded by conjoined floral patterns and a star at the top. .
