A beautiful coin from Heritage, that has a very different satiny appearance from the other that I have. Very rare and it came up 6 years after the last prooflike version; unknown exact mintage but even in 1982 the gold value far exceeded face:
Great looking coin, winning design on both sides! I have a gold coin from France as well, it's one of my favorite world coins with a fat face King Louis XVIII!
32 according to one auction house, so they probably got that from a reputable source. Considering it's from the Paris mint, it's somewhat likely that they have accurate records. Essais is 12 examples.
Yes, I have seen that figure bandied about as well, however I think it was Numimata that said it was a mintage of 32 for the essai version of the smaller gold 5k piece with the larger gold essai version of the silver crown at 12 pieces. I have not seen specifics for the uncirculated "currency" version of the smaller 5k piece in the OP. This coin o.4193 oz. gold the larger was I believe 1.41 oz and a much greater diameter of course.
