Luxembourg · 100th anniversary of the introduction of franc coins featuring the Feierstëppler

Grand Duchess Charlotte ruled Luxembourg from 1919 to 1964. She ascended to the throne after the abdication of her sister Marie-Adelheid, who had come under domestic political pressure after the First World War. Charlotte’s early years of rule fell during a period of political and economic reorganisation. In 1921, the Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union (Belgisch-Luxemburgische Wirtschaftsunion) had been established; the Luxembourg franc was closely linked to the Belgian franc.

The “Feierstëppler” was a one-franc coin. As a subsidiary coin, its face value was not based on the value of the metal but on a state determination. Such coins were used primarily for everyday payments. Nickel was suitable for this purpose because of its hardness and resistance to wear. The grand-ducal decree provided the legal basis for the minting and issuance.

The popular name is Luxembourgish and refers to the worker with his long pole. In essence, it means someone who stokes a fire or works at a furnace. The motif thus directly refers to iron and steel production. Since the late 19th century, ore mining, blast furnaces and steelworks had fundamentally transformed, above all, southern Luxembourg. The “Minette” found there, an iron-bearing rock, formed the raw-material basis of this industrialisation. Steel became a central export product; at the same time, new industrial towns and a large workforce emerged, including numerous immigrants.

The depiction of an industrial worker differed from the coin images long customary at the time, featuring portraits of rulers, coats of arms or allegorical figures. It made manual labour and the industrial economic order a state motif. The colloquial name also shows that the population identified the coin less by its official designation than by its depiction.

The occasion for the commemorative issue was therefore not merely a numismatic anniversary. The historic coin links the history of the Luxembourg franc with the country’s industrial development. The reproduction of an older coin on a current euro coin also establishes a connection between two currency eras.