Can anyone tell me about this French Coin?

[jtryka]

I bought this one in Rome in 1995, and I think I paid about 10,000 or 15,000 lira for it (about $7-10). It appears to be silver, about the size of a silver dollar. I just have it sitting around and wanted to learn a little more about it.

 

Thanks!

 

Obverse

Reverse

[truthteller]

France 5 Francs, 1867, BB mintmark(strasbourg), 4.22 million struck. XF(US standards, VF European standards). Value in Krause xf $65, vf $20. Expect $10 offer.

 

 

 

TRUTH

[GDJMSP]

I can tell you a little - just not much. It's minted in .900 silver with an ASW of .7234 oz. There were approx 4.2 million struck. The mint mark is BB for Strasbourg. The small privy marks are known as "differents" by the French. They indicate the Engraver General & Mint Director for the time the coin was struck. On this coin they are the fleur-de-lis and the anchor - both on the reverse. There is one other privy mark beneath the S but I can't quite make it out. Three privy marks on a coin is normal.

[syracusian]

Like GDJMSP said, the anchor is the privy mintmark of A.D.Barre, chief engraver of the Strasbourg ,Bordeaux and Paris mints at the time, and the bee must be the privy mintmark of R.de Bussiere director of the mint.

 

French coins became the standard that was to be followed by Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Greece when the Latin Union was created, and many more countries later. Each country was minting a certain amount of coins, directly related to its population and with the exact same specifications, so that all coins were legal tender in every country-member. It proved to be a very successfull project that ended almost half a century later , with WW1.Even copper and copper nickel coins were identical, although the initial treaty was only for silver and gold coins. Not all European countries adopted the Latin Union standards. German states had already their own union and the same happened in Scandinavian countries. Great Britain remained faithfull to the sovereign and the pre-decimal .

 

Here's a Greek 5 drs from 1875, mintmarked A (Paris) and engraved by the same artist.

[syracusian]

reverse

[jtryka]

Wow, that is some great history! I really never knew anything about such things as the Latin Union and such. I guess that would have been little different from the Euro today! It's interesting that I tend to look at these things from a transatlantic perspective, and hence view many of these coins from a dollar exchange rate view. The fixed exchange rates based on metal content has long fascinated me, like the British Sovereign which was about 1/5 oz. of gold compared with an American half eagle at about 1/4 oz. illustrated why the pound was worth about $4, or this coin, with the silver content slightly less than a US silver dollar illustrates the $/franc exchange rate of roughly 5 to 1. What is also interesting is how some exchange rates have persisted even beyond Bretton Woods, as I recall the franc was still about 5:1 when I last visited in 1995.

 

Thanks everyone for the good and interesting information!