I love French coins! They are my favorite foreign coins, I especially love the late 1800's to early 1900's designs! They are very beautiful
Me too since i am French I think we should post some pics to get some reaction ( difficult for me now, i am at work ) Consider the design of the French silver franc from the 1900's and compare it with the Walking Liberty Half's Lady and you will find some amazing similarity :smile ( of course we don't have the Eagle ! ) - Froggy
I was in Paris and Lyon recently, but the French Mint, Monnaie de Paris, official mint of France, was unfortunately closed when I was there. I love some of them for sure! Next time I am there, I am gonna get some of their beauties.
I believe French coins are beautiful. I've been collecting their medals for years. http://www.monnaiedeparis.fr/e-boutique/medailles you may need to translate the page to English using your browser. Mike
Please don't get me wrong. But after walking around Paris for a while and seeing some French coin designs, I am in an opinion that many great older US coins are mostly based on French designs or French arts or French monuments ... could that be possible due to the close relationship between the USA and France during the revolutionary war? Nowadays, the US Mint is trying to bring out more of the US designs - like for the US States quarters, the National Parks quarters, the Presidential dollar coins or the Sacagawea dollar coins (anyone else wanna chime in). I equally love them as the older designs and I personnally think that these new designs deserve more appreciations than they currently get.
By the way, the place where the coins are minted is Pessac, a suburb of Bordeaux, but that "Établissement Monétaire" cannot be visited anyway. Not sure what can be seen at the Hôtel de la Monnaie in Paris these days; they used to have a museum but I think that is closed ... Christian
Unless these links are out of the date it appears the Mint can be visted. http://www.travelsignposts.com/Paris/paris_museum-monnaie.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monnaie_de_Paris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFYgkGcYhzE
With all due respect, they actually have two facilities; one in Paris and the other in Pessac. Of course I wanted to go the one in Paris, but it was just so unfortunate that the boutique was closed from August 3rd to 27th (and I was in France from August 16th to the 24th - so close). More info: Monnaie de Paris is one of Europe's top money-issuing authorities. The French Mint, as the agency is also called, is attached to France's Ministry of Economy, Finance, and Industry, and is responsible for the production and issuing of the country's supply of euros. Monnaie de Paris manufactures coins and bills at two facilities--one in Paris and the other in Pessac, in the Gironde region near Bordeaux. The latter facility is a fully integrated site, with operations spanning metal production to packaging. Between 1998 and 2002, that facility produced more than nine billion coins for the launch of the euro. The state-run agency also manufactures foreign currency coins and bills. Through the Direction of Coins and Medals (DCM), Monnaie de Paris produces a wide range of commemorative coins (not just for the French government but also for the private and business sectors) and has extended its range to include art bronzes and even jewelry. In support of these activities, Monnaie de Paris began to hold thematic design compositions in 2003. The DCM is also responsible for the production of civil and military medals and related honor decorations for the French and other governments. In 2002, Dov Zerah was appointed as director of the Monnaie de Paris.
