New coin - France 1919 1 Franc

I always wanted this type for my world collection and now I have one. It's a nice strike and a good grade at a very low price. Sometimes you don't have to pay much to get a gorgeous piece.

 

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It realy is a lovely design isnt it :high5:

 

Very nice Weryon! That's a beautiful coin. It's on my want list too. Here is a shot of a early wax on slate incarnation of the design. Even rough and unfinished it's beautiful.

And some people didn't like the design when it came out:
"What is she sowing, this woman, with the fancy Phrygian cap? She is sowing disorder, anarchy, rye grass, hatred born of lies and immorality" (Le Moniteur, 28 February 1897).

 

People are always discontent about something , be it coin depictions , or some wide set gentlemen overly frustrated about my pizza place around the corner note carrying diet coke.... buddy , you're already carrying away three 15 inches just have the regular coke no ?

Great quote from Le Moniteur.

 

That is what I love about the french their coins were always art like. I have some 1 Franc coins but none as old as 1919 but as old as 1960.

 

Very pretty. Thanks for posting.

 

i have a few french coins, none as early or pretty, a 1945 1 franc and a 1906 5 franc?

 

what camera settings are you on to get those stunning pics OP VGA? how many mega pix? any zoom? on macro yeah? any help would be much appreciated.

 

You sure don't have to do ya'

 

Pardon me, Sir. But these coins from Swiss

 

A couple coins of this type.
1. 50 centimes 1919, silver .835, 2,5 g.
2. 2 francs 1918, silver .835, 10 g.

 

hey im no coin buff every other coin i have says franc or cent on it. so i just assumed they were french.ok sir.

 

Now that you know that those are Swiss and not French, let me just add that the "5" piece is a 5 centimes or rappen coin. (100 ct/rp = 1 fr). Switzerland has four official languages, and the name of the currency (franken, franc ...) begins with "Fr" in all four. The sub-unit however has various names, e.g. rappen in German or centime(s) in French. So they decided to not put the unit name on the smaller pieces. For the same reason the country name is always in Latin on the Swiss coins - "Helvetia" or "Confœderatio Helvetica".

@weryon and Siberian Man: Yes, that Sower is a great design. I have those too, but my "silver sowers" are somewhat worn.

Christian

 

Good info!

 

Congrats on the nice pick up, Always extra special at a great price!!

 

thanks so much for the info, im out of my depth here as i'm new to coin collecting and there is so much i do not know. you people in this forum are experts at your hobby, i however am not. but thankyou for the tips.

 

Very nice looking coin! Actually reminds me the design on the US Walking Liberty half dollar coin of the same era.

 

Hmm, the Semeuse (Sower) is about 20 years older though. The first 1 franc coin with that design was issued in 1898 (50 centimes: 1897).

Here is some background info about the design, about the model (Charlotte Ragot) and an even earlier medal featuring that Sower. Even today that design can be found (more abstract though) on French circulation coins and (in that old style) on several collector coins.

Christian

 

Nice to see those coins they are "in my heart"

May I show you mine ?

A 1901 1 franc :



A 1910 2 francs from Mr Gadoury's own collection (Victor Gadoury was a great dealer and collector, and the writter of an equivalent of the US "red book", which is also red actually !!!) :



Q

 

Thank you for the links and info Christian. I cannot read the French copy on those web sites but the on the second link, if you scroll all the way down to the bottom, it includes an image of the US Walking Liberty Half Dollar coin bearing a similarity as I noted. Can you translate what that site is telling us about the similarity?

I didn't mean to suggest that one inspired the other because I had no way of knowing that at the time of my post and not much knowledge of French numismatics to know which preceded the other. I just felt there was a compositional design similarity and that both coins existed in circulation in the same general time period or era.

With regards to how long some designs take to be created be minted, and then how long those coins last running in circulation, number of years they are minted for, those 20 years of difference doesn't seem all that much of but a drop in the bucket to call the design common to an era.