50 Centimes - Charlotte

Reverse

Value divides wheat sprays

Script: Latin

Lettering:
50
CMES

Engraver: Armand Bonnetain

Edge

Reeded

Comment

Mathias Gaasch, the Feiersteppler
on the Luxembourg Coin

The One Franc coin depicted a man shoveling coal in a foundry in Luxembourg. That man was Mathias Gaasch, the uncle of Alice Gaasch, Louise Gaasch Hathaway(mother of Bob and Jean Hathaway), and Frank Gaasch (Father of Bill, Jack, Jim, and Marybeth Gaasch). There were over 18 million of these coins minted from 1924 through 1991. They were withdrawn from circulation on December 31, 1991. The same image was on the 2 franc coin, but only in the year in 1924, which is a rare coin (see below).

From a Luxembourg Newspaper February 3, 2007:



The Feiersteppler

Mathias Gaasch, of Dudeling (Luxembourg) poses for Auguste Tremont's sketch.

How the one Franc coin once got his face, one can find out by looking back to a March 2, 2002 copy of "Luxembourger Wort" (a newspaper).
Auguste Tremont, one of the greatest artists and the most momentous sculptor of Luxembourg was born there on New Years Eve, 1892. At 17, the young man went to Paris, where he signed in at the "Ecole National des arts decoratifs" (an art school next to the Louvre). And later at the "Ecole National des beaux-arts" (another art school). However, the war halted his career as an artist, and so he went back to his homeland. After a short imprisonment, he taught at the "Lycee de garcons" (a school in Luxembourg), before he was to work for the "Huttendirektion", to secure the scenes in the factory in Dudeling. At that same time, Mathias Gaasch worked at the smelting foundry. He had a strong build and powerful physique due to his daily strenuous physical exertion.

The artist chose to have Mathias Gaasch pose for a painting to capture that worker, explains J. Feis, the grandaughter of Mathias Gaasch, in an interview with radio station DNR.

The modeling work of her grandfather was allowed by the people in charge. It was an honor for the man from Dudeling, Luxembourg (Mathias Gaasch), who died in 1939, to be a model for Auguste Tremont.

Later, the painting of Tremont's was to be many multiple thousand times engraved on the one Franc Luxembourg coin. Rene Link from the "Banque Centrale du Luxembourg" reports that in 1924 the first coin came into circulation. On December 31, 1991, they were withdrawn from circulation. A Belgian artist Armand Bonnetain (1888-1973) was responsible for the engraving.

Shared with kind permission of Jim Gaasch 02/03/2019

Interesting fact

Price

Date	Mintage	VG	F	VF	XF	AU	UNC
1930	2000000	-	-	-	-	-	-

Values in the table are based on evaluations by sales realized on Internet platforms. They serve as an indication only for 50 Centimes - Charlotte 1930 coin.