2025 France Silver Proof Coin - Women of the World: Josephine Baker

• Mint: Monnaie de Paris
• Denomination: €10
• Quality: Proof
• Issue limit: 3,000 pcs.
• Alloy: 99.9% Silver
• Diameter: 37 mm
• Weight: 22.2 g

Additional Information

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Born in St Louis, Missouri, Freda Josephine McDonald (1906-1975) - naturalized in France as Joséphine Baker - was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress.

Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She arrived in Paris in 1925, and already in 1926 she was performing at the world-famous Folies Bergère. In Paris she made her fortune and acquired her own nightclub, Picasso and Matisse portrayed her, and Hemingway, Cocteau and Kurt Weil wrote about her.

Josephine Baker also led a double life as a secret Resistance agent during World War II, and she was honored with both the Légion d’honneur and a Resistance medal for her services.

In 1975, at age 69, she celebrated her 50th anniversary in Paris with a run of performances at the Bobino. The music finally stopped after the 14th show as she died quietly in her sleep that night.

On November 30, 2021, Baker was inducted into the Panthéon in Paris, the first black woman to receive one of the highest honors in France.