Welcome to the forum David. I guess you're asking for information about your coin, but what do you mean "that opens up"? It would also help if you would either post pictures of both sides, or at least describe the coin by size, weight and description of the design and legends. BTW there were three copper denominations issued during Napoleon III's reign, but according to the Standard Catalog of World Coins the last Napoleonic 1 and 2 centimes were dated 1862 and the final 5 centimes was dated 1864. 1865 was the final year for the bronze 10 centimes.
ROY; ALL I know is that it is solid copper it has 5 F on the back and the date 1870 ON the front. its the size of a silver dollor and about the thickness of 5 quarters stacked on top of one another.
Howdy David - Welcome to the Forum !! What you are describing sounds like a 5 franc pierfort essai. What that means is you have what is a pattern coin that was made twice as thick as normal. But even at that - as thick as 5 quarters sounds a bit much. These coins were often struck in copper, bronze or white metal. A few were struck in silver. But you say it opens up - to me that sounds like a box coin. That is a coin that has been cut in half, had the insides hollowed out and then placed bacl together often with a hinge. Sometimes the coins were used to smuggle opium from the orient. But Marseille has long been a stop over point for smugglers - so it fits. This is the first time I have ever heard of one of these coins being used for such a purpose - but it makes sense.
Okay, what makes you think it's copper? There are eight varieties of 5 franc coins dated 1870, all of them weighing 25g of .900 silver, and contains .7234 troy ounces of pure silver. All but two say "5 FRANCS", so except for the thickness, yours sounds like either KM#799.1 (mint mark "A" for Paris) or KM#799.2 (mint mark "BB" for Strasbourg). That coin has a left-facing bust of a beared Napoleon III wearing a wreath with the legend "NAPOLEON III EMPEREUR" on the obverse. l The reverse shows "EMPIRE FRANCAIS", the date at the very bottom, the "5" and "F" on the outer edgesat 4 o'clock, and a crown over crossed swords and a shield on the reverse. The only essai - a thick proof-like coin - for Napoleon III listed is a 100F dated 1854 (E19) with a very similar design. I still don't understand the reference to a coin that "opens up". The
For whatever it's worth Roy, Krause only list a tiny fraction of the essai coins. And they did make a copper one in that year - almost bought one myself.
The coin is hollow with a copper hinge and copper pocket inside ,I found it in a piano from france; Is it valuable
Well that kinda depends. It is rare to find them with the hinge still intact and operable - I assume it is. Something like this is worth something to those who collect them - and there aren't that many who do. Personally, if I owned it I wouldn't sell it - I'd wanna keep it. But if such a thing was offered on ebay you'd undoubtably find a buyer. It may sell for as little as $5 - it may sell for $100. There's just no way to know.
