World Cup FRANCE 98 – Press Releases
6 March 1996
A commemorative coin issue for the XVIth World Cup
On 6 March 1996, the Monnaie de Paris (Paris Mint) and FRANCE 98, the French Organising Committee for the 1998 World Cup signed a joint agreement to bring out a set of official coins to celebrate the sixteenth World Cup.
To mark the event, the commemorative coin set programme will also be a first ever!
Built around four central themes – “Id&eacutre;al du football”, France, the five continents and the former World Cup winners – the collection will be offered to the public in a special first issue followed by a main collection. Starting in June 1996, as a “first issue” and special offer, three coins will be issued illustrating the theme of “Idéal du football”: a silver coin and a 1/4 ounce gold coin. Ten thousand of each will be minted and will be accompanied by a small silver coin illustrating the same theme.
The main collection will be officially launched in October 1996. It will include six gold and eight silver coins and, for the first time in the history of the Monnaie de Paris, different themes will be used for the gold and silver coins.
The gold programme will be devoted to the five continents and France, the host nation; the silver programme, devoted to the history of the World Cup, will first pay tribute to France, the six countries to win the competition since it was created in 1930 (Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England and Argentina) and will finally honour the World Cup through its famous trophy.
Twenty thousand coins will be issued in gold (1/2 ounce) and 80,000 in silver. The main collection will be issued in four stages: October 1996 (4 coins), March 1997 (3 coins), September 1997 (4 coins) and January 1998 (3 coins).
THE JURY’S CHOICE
The competition for the design of the coins was launched last January by the Monnaie de Paris, and entrants were invited to work on the four themes selected for the series, each artist being free to submit an entry for one or several coins. A total of 18 projects were submitted to the Monnaie de Paris and put before the members of the jury who met on 6 March at Quai Conti under the chairmanship of Emmanuel Constans, Director of the Monnaie de Paris. Made up of top personalities such as Fernand Sastre and Michel Platini, Presidents of FRANCE 98, Jacques Lambert, Managing Director of FRANCE 98, Pierre Rodier, Head Engraver at the Mint and Albert Bech, Chief Editor of Münzen Revue (Germany’s leading numismatics magazine), the jury made its selection from the wide range of projects submitted.
