Born Norma Jean Mortenson on June 01, 1926, in Los Angeles, Marilyn Monroe spent much of her early life bouncing between foster homes and an orphanage, culminating in a marriage when she was just 16. She was ‘discovered’ working in a factory in WW2 by an army photographer, and after a successful modelling career, she earned short contracts in Hollywood. In 1951, she signed to 20th Century Fox, and made a string of comedies, which signalled her popularity with audiences.

By 1953, she was one of the most bankable actresses in Hollywood, with hits like ‘Some Like it Hot’, ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’, and ‘The Seven Year Itch’, and she won several awards. However, her personal life, including failed marriages to the playwright Arthur Miller, and baseball star Joe DiMaggio, were highly publicised, and she died of a probable suicide at the age of just 36. The world lost a real talent to her inner demons, but her legacy in film, and as a pop-culture icon, will likely never fade.

A century since her birth, the Monnaie de Paris are releasing this fine coin as part of their loose ‘Women of the World’ series, that can be traced back to a Queen Clotilde issue in 2016. The coins are, in most cases, struck with an unbound edge, so each is slightly different on that edge, much like the mint did way back in 2011 with the outstanding ‘From Clovis to Republic’ series, whose profile I really should update. The reverse face is simple on these coins, largely filled with a portrait and name, over a patterned background. Earlier coins have had patterns of Fleur de Lys, for example, but in a neat nod to the actress, hers is filled with the star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The obverse is a composite of elements from her short life, her singing, acting, and glamour, along with her signature.

A terrific homage to Marilyn in a style of coin I find exceptionally appealing. The 22g silver coin will be the most popular, probably, but there are one-ounce, and quarter-ounce gold coins in the same style. There’s also a five-ounce silver coin, but it has a standard rim, and loses a lot of the appeal for me. It’s also only 13 mm bigger in diameter, despite utilising seven times the amount of metal. A small (13 g) 0.333 silver coin is also available, and huge kudos to the Monnaie de Paris for this. When the Royal Mint is putting out 8-gram base metal coins for £15, a nicely packaged 13-gram 0.333 silver coin for just €13 seems a veritable bargain. Available to order now, it sits alongside a recent Queen Elizabeth II coin in the same vein, who was actually born the same year.