I was searching through my father's junk drawer and I came across a bag of coins he had hidden since god knows when. Most of the coins were just local, and worthless as collectable. However there was one coin that caught my eye, its a Napoleon The 3rd Cinq Centeime from 1853. Its faded, but you can still make out the Emperors head and the date. I was wondering if there was anyone out there that could tell me if this coin was worth anything ?
to Cointalk Captain. The condition you describe sounds like the coin would grade somewhere in the About Good to Good range, which isn't really all that good. The lowest grade for which a value is estimated in the 2001 Standard Catalog of World Coins, 19th Century 3rd Ed., is Fine, which is two steps above Good. Depending on mint mark, the range of values in Fine is $2-8. In 1853 the total mintage of more than 36-million bronze pieces was spread among seven mints. The mint mark below the eagle's claws on the reverse will be: A for Paris B for Rouen BB for Strassbourg D for Lyon K for Bordeaux MA for Marseille or W for Lille A variety of symbols were also used as privy marks to identify the Mintmaster. I don't know how accurate the SCWC is on 2nd Empire French coin values, but assuming it's in the ballpark, my guess is that yours is worth around 50¢ if the mint mark is readable, or 10-25¢ if it isn't. If you can post a clear picture of both sides, it may be possible to come up with a better estimate of value.
