Gold Coins. How much over melt?

French 20Fr coins with early 20th Century dates are almost certainly restrikes issued after 1960.
France, like many other countries, began issuing restrikes of their past bullion coins, beginning in the 1950's. They did this partly to help American investors skirt the ban on owning post-1933 gold coins, partly to combat rampant counterfeiting of these coins, especially in the Middle East, and partly because of the profit to be made by taking bullion on hand and striking something that could be sold for a little over its intrinsic value.
Regardless, they are real Paris mint issues. They're well made, they're very reliable in terms of weight and fineness, and many collectors find them quite lovely and desirable.

 

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The really well struck mint state examples from 1907-14 most likely are official restrikes that were struck 1951 to 1960, but not after.

 

Thank you. That has been my observation also. I also consider all costs, including freight, transaction fees, etc when calculating landed costs, particularly when buying online vs. dealers.

 

The British restruck a lot of their especially 1925 dated sovereigns during that time for payments in the Middle East. Of course QEII was then and now queen, but it was believed that her portrait on coins sent to Saudi Arabia etc would be an affront, so instead they used King George V's coin dies and struck up new coins.

And then United States gold coins were quite unofficially made in that time in Lebanon and stand out for being spot on weight and composition wise, but only slightly off on design details. They were made as monetary counterfeits - not to fool collectors.

 

Most dealers around KC would pay 90% of spot and sell at spot over the counter. Unless the coin is immaculate, most the 20 Franc coins are seldom worth any premium, especially the rooster type.