My first French gold coin

I lucked into a roll and got to cherry pick mine, I went with the toning, and gave up a bit on the condition. Yours is nice.

 

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Here's another pretty French gold coin, Mercury engraved by Lucien Bazor who did a ton of coins for the colonies.

 

The other two French gold coins I ordered arrived today. So that makes three in total. Given that I've been primarily a collector of ancient coins for the last 4 1/2 years, it should be easy to understand why the obverse designs on both of these particularly appealed to me.

France, Second Republic, AU (.900 fineness) 20 Francs, 1848, Paris Mint (mintage 1,544,043). Obv. Génie (Winged Genius) of France standing three-quarters right, using right hand to inscribe Constitution of 1848 on tablet set on column, holding tablet upright with left hand; date “24.25 FEV./1848” inscribed on tablet in two lines*; in left field, fasces topped by Main de Justice (Hand of Justice) with two fingers raised in blessing gesture; in right field, Gallic rooster standing left; RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE around; in exergue, signature “Dupré” [for engraver Augustin Dupré] / Rev. Denomination and year 20/FRANCS/1848 in three lines encircled by oak-leaf wreath; LIBERTÉ ÉGALITÉ FRATERNITÉ around; below wreath, Mintmark “A” [= Paris] flanked on left by privy mark of hand with forefinger pointing right, and on right by privy mark of dog’s head right (the marks of the Mint Director [for period 1846-60] and Chief Engraver [for period 1843-55], respectively)/ Edge inscription DIEU PROTEGE LA FRANCE ⁎⁎⁎. 21 mm., 6.46 g. KM (Krause-Mishler) 757, Yeoman 8.*



*The dates of 24-25 Feb. 1848 inscribed on the tablet on the obverse signify the dates during the Revolution of 1848 in France when King Louis Philippe abdicated (24 Feb. 1848) and the opposition began meeting to organize the Second Republic and draft the Constitution of 1848. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution_of_1848.) The gold 20 Francs coin with an obverse depicting a standing Genius and a tablet with these dates inscribed was issued in only two years, 1848 and 1849. The obverse design was revived from 1871-1914, but without any inscription on the tablet.

France, Second Republic, AU (.900 fineness) 20 Francs, 1849, Paris Mint (mintage 61,092). Obv. Head of Cérès right wearing wreath of oak-leaves and ears of corn (grain); in left field, fasces topped by Main de Justice (Hand of Justice) with two fingers raised in blessing gesture; in right field, laurel branch; REPUBLIQUE ⁎ FRANÇAISE around; beneath head of Cérès, L. MERLEY. F. [for engraver Louis Merley; F. = Fecit (he made this)] / Rev. Denomination 20/Francs in two lines encircled by wreath consisting of laurel branch to left and oak branch to right, tied together by ribbon at bottom; beneath ribbon, mintmark “A” [= Paris] above year 1849, flanked on left by privy mark of hand with forefinger pointing right, and on right by privy mark of dog’s head right (the marks of the Mint Director [for period 1846-60] and Chief Engraver [for period 1843-55], respectively)/ Edge inscription DIEU PROTEGE LA FRANCE ⁎⁎⁎. 21 mm., 6.43 g. KM (Krause-Mishler) 762, Yeoman 10.*



*This type of gold 20 francs coin with Cérès on the obverse was issued only for the three-year period 1849-1851 (overlapping in its first year with the second and final year of the Génie type), and was replaced in 1852 by the 20 francs piece bearing the image of Napoleon III on the obverse, minted from 1852-1870. The 1849 Cérès 20 francs coin is the rarest of the three, with a mintage of only around 60,000, compared to approximately 4 million in 1850 and 13 million in 1851.

As before, please post any French gold coins you like, or French coins in general if you don't have any made of gold.

 

A beautiful Art Deco design.

 

Nice additions! I have the 1848-A AV 20 Francs from Louis Philippe/ but need the Revolution one. Your 1849-A Ceres is rarer then my common 1851-A ex. I am looking for the AV 10 Francs....

 

It’s not yet in hand but I am very excited to soon hold my first gold of France which ties into my major long term focus. Heritage had a wonderful auction this past Sunday and I was able to win some important lots. This example was recovered from Le Chameau wreck. Though not quite as significant as the particular Louis I had my sights set on (or many others), it’s still a nice example/type with provenance and history. Donna, I’ve really enjoyed this thread. Thank you!

Heritage description and photos:

Louis XV gold Louis d'Or Mirliton 1725-K UNC Details (Saltwater Damage) NGC, Bordeaux mint, KM470.10, Gad-338 (R), Dup-1638. Large palms variety. From the 1725 Le Chameau shipwreck. Fielding razor-sharp devices, with minor adjustment marks over sun-gold fields.

Ex. John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XIII (Stack's January 2006, Lot 454)




Stacks Bowers 2006 photos:

 

Beautiful!

 

I had always wanted a coin depicting Napoleon, and was pleasantly surprised that they were within reach price-wise when I finally picked up some examples a few years ago. I have a 20 Franks from the same year and mint, and a few 5 Franks pieces. I even managed to pick up a circulated 1815 5 Franks last year.

These large coins are a pleasure to hold in the hand.