Distinguishing Marks of The Mint Masters
The coins bear the signature of the master engraver responsible for the engraving of the coins' dies. In later times the engraver used a symbol to identify himself. The coins also bear the mark (a symbol, letter, or monogram) denoting the particular French (or French controlled) mint which struck the coin. These mint marks often signal the rarity of the issue, for example the Napoleon 20 franc gold coin struck in 1809 at Paris and marked with the letter "A" had an issue of 687,508 coins; in the same year at the mint at Bordeaux, marked with the letter "K" only 2,534 coins were struck; while the mint at Lille, marked with a "W" struck 16,911 coins. Over the years there were some twenty-three French mints not only in France but also in annexed or occupied countries, including Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Read more about this topic: Napoleon (coin)
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