First purchase in a very long time

So I haven't bought anything in a very, very long time. However, the other day I was chatting with a friend and I mentioned to her I was a bit afraid to buy anything because then I would start collecting and buying. I am a neat freak and when I collect anything, I must be very organized. A couple of days later, I got an impulse and bought something. It's not big or even expensive but I love world coins. So I went ahead and bought this 1951 50 Francs.

 

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Kind of a Robin hood design I like it.

 

I would say, it's Mercury!

 

Sorry, I'm not really familiar with French currency, is 50 Francs silver, or Aluminum?

 

Belgium 50 Francs & .835 silver

 

Thanks to this thread I found a coin.

Sometime around 1966 I bought a set of Belgian coins from a dealer in Belgium.
I was pretty sure that I had the early 1950's 50 Franc coins in both languages French and Flemish.
I photographed most of my old coin collection in 2010 and found only a picture of the Flemish coin.
I found both coins and apparently never photographed the French coin which I did today.


Belgium 50 Francs 1954 Flemish


Belgium 50 Francs 1954 French

 

Many countries were/are using the Franc, not just France:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franc

"The countries that use francs include Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and most of Francophone Africa. Before the introduction of the euro, francs were also used in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, while Andorra and Monaco accepted the French franc as legal tender (Monegasque franc)."

 

Sorry, I knew that Belgium also used Francs, I just assumed it was French from a quick look, I assumed it was French from the facial profile.

 

Well, welcome back to the dark side!, ...uh, I mean, the hobby.

Yes, World Coins are pretty cool... There are so many silver-based world coins that are just amazing in their designs. Lots to choose from. I try to get the best examples of these that I can, at the lowest price I can.

If you take a look at this Coin Week video below, they talk about the World Coin market. I think high-grade, yet low-mintage World Coins are relatively cheap now, but probably won't be forever. People are starting to pick up on this. Luckily I live in the States, where so many dealers still throw some really nice non-USA pieces in their "junk bins". Sometimes even precious metals. Somebody here at CT found a really nice Chinese "Birds over Junk" Junk Dollar in a $5 bin at his LCS.

The conversation about World Coins begins at 10:51