1907 From Family Estate I need Help!

After mom passed this was in a drawer in her bedroom. Has Republique Francaise with the name J.C. Chaplain one side while on the other it has Liberte Egalite Fraternite, 20 FCS and the date 1907. Can you lead me to good information on this and a possible value for insurance purposes ? There is another coin in the group. Thanks.

 

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http://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/world/france-20-francs-km-857-1906-1914-cuid-36099-duid-104038

 

Beautiful piece!

J.C. Chaplain was one of the finest French sculptors.

 

It looks very cleaned which hurts the value. I will say that it is worth around $300. Very beautiful piece for sure.

 

Well I hope she didn't clean it because I've been trying to trace back some family history and knowing the family originally came from Germany and that she and my father were involved in WWII, has me pulling up lots of info. The coin is not German it is from France. I'll keep looking into all this, thanks 'coinman1234'.

 

bear:

congrats, a very pretty coin.

 

Thanks for the information 'furryfrog02'

 

http://goldirasavings.com/french-coins-rooster-20-franc-gold


Any edge lettering?

 

Very nice coin!

Not too big a deal if it was cleaned, its pretty much worth the gold value.

There's .1866 oz of actual gold in it X 1200= $223.92, you can probably get a little more than that for it though possibly.

 

A very attractive piece!! And apparently worth between $225 and the $300 already mentioned..

And, I agree the 'cleaned' impression makes it essentially worth a tad over spot---unless you find the right buyer....or there's something else unusual about it that I'm unaware of..

 

Yes there is, it says, 'LIBERTE +* EGALITE+*FRATERNITE*++* So what would that mean ?

 

It's a common-date bullion coin of France, Krause Catalog #857, perhaps a restrike, although that doesn't matter much on a bullion coin. They are usually known as "roosters," for obvious reasons. Currently out of stock at Apmex, but here's the link to check later in the week:

http://www.apmex.com/product/63982/france-gold-20-francs-rooster-bu

There's dozens of them on eBay, generally (today) $300 plus or minus $20, when bought in lots of 5 or 10 coins. They tend to be overpriced (on eBay) as individual pieces, I see some as high (today) as $400 to $425.

Price of the coin fluctuates constantly with the price of gold. I've owned a couple, different times, but sold them to buy 90% silver on dips. There are no scarce dates in this short 9-year series.

The lettering on the edge means: if it ain't there, it's a counterfeit, or, the rim has been shaved.

 

So sell when gold is high.

 

As I suppose you have already been informed--it means Liberty; Equality, and Fraternity---a reference to the French Revolution,,

 

This is a good time to display a chart, and get CT members' opinions. This is the RATIO of gold price to silver price (per ounce) for the last ten years. What do you think it means? Notice the huge range, 31 to 83 times.

I'll add my comments later.

 

I think it means that yours is a re-strike. In the link I gave you earlier it mentions that the older coins contained the edge inscription...... “Dieu Protégé La France”.

 

I'm not sure that's true. I have seen no mention of any way to tell the original 1907-1914 dated coins from the restrikes that were done until 1960. So it could actually have been minted in 1907, but also could have been minted (for example) in 1955, AFAIK.

 

Right Dave.........I defer to your superior knowledge.

 

Well, I believe it reflects the value ratios over time, relative to the 'historical' value between gold and silver of at least within a range 50 - 80....which many feel it should be...

It suggests silver is undervalued relative to the historical standards....yet that old disclaimer comes immediately mind: ..."Past performances do not guarantee future performances..."

But, I believe the gap may close a bit in the months and years to come...but then again, maybe not LOL

Am I close to your answer or in jibe with your pending comments??

 

Oh man, we're in trouble now!