October 13, 2011 – This new series honors a key part of French culture, representing the most illustrious characters from French literature in all its forms: from novels and short stories to theatre, philosophy, and more.
The series begins with three legendary characters: Cosette, the martyred child of Les Misérables, Nana, Zola’s femme fatale with a tragic destiny, and Meursault, the anti-hero of The Stranger by Camus.
Unveiled over a period of five years, each year of the series will be dedicated to a group of characters with similar destinies, or who have had a similar moral influence on readers, 2011, The “Tragics”.
50 Euro – 1/4oz 920 gold – 8.45 g – 22 mm – Mintage: 3,000.
The first issue is dedicated to Cosette and shows the famous scene in which the child struggles to carry a heavy bucket of water appears on the obverse along with the title of the book. On the reverse is a portrait of Victor Hugo along with a quote about Cosette from Les Misérables.
10 Euro – 900 silver – 22.2 g – 37 mm – Mintage: 10,000.
Besides the 1/4oz gold coin, also an edition in silver is available.
The following series will be:
2012: The Adventurers (Cyrano, D’Artagnan, Le Chat Botté)
2013: The Romantics (Madame Bovary, Odette de Crécy, Julien Sorel)
2014: The Moralists (Rastignac, Candide, Harpagon)
2015: The Passionnates (Manon Lescaut, Tristan et Iseult, Chimène).
For more details and to keep yourself informed about the forthcoming releases, click here.