I recently got a 1949 5 franc(?) coin in some change and was wondering if anyone here could tell me what it is and whose picture is minted upon it. It says BELGIE on one side and has a minted head with PAU at the bottom. Thanks for all of your help!
Well, that would be BELGIUM (Belgique/Belgie because the nation has two offiicial languages, French and Walloon, a German dialect similar to Dutch). In 1949, the king was technically Leopold III. So, you would expect his head to be on the coin. However, the story is complicated. See for instance http://www.expatriate-online.com/moving/Belgium/History/history_since_1945.cfm You can also enter KING BELGIUM 1949 into Google and follow some links and draw your own conclusions. The point is that General Paul Pau was a French hero of World War I, and the portrait may be his. I would like to know, as well. In fact, it is kind of funny, but Belgium is not a "real" country -- if there is any such thing. Belgium was created out of Holland and France as a way to settle a minor point following the Revolution of 1830 in France, which replaced Charles X with Louis Phillipe, "The Citizen King." This new nation needed a name and everyone knew of the Belgii, a fierce and noble people who fought against Julius Caesar in the Gallic Wars. I believe that no actual Belgii inhabited then the region named for them later, though I could be wrong... Michael "wondering"
Some of their coins have both versions of the country name, but others were minted in pairs - one with each name. Although you would think they would split the mintage equally, and they often did, in many cases one version had a substantially higher mintage - for instance the 1969 10 francs with 22,235,000 "Belgique" and 21,500,000 "Belgie". Go figure!
Hm, Walloon is (pretty much) the same as French. Belgium has two main language areas, Wallonie where Walloon/French is spoken, and Vlaanderen (Flanders) where Flemish is spoken which is very close or almost the same as Dutch. In a few Belgian counties German is the primary language. Which is why nowadays Belgian commems are trilingual as far as the country name is concerned. "Belgique - België - Belgien", not necessarily in that order Christian
Was wondering about that "Pau" as well. I am not that familiar with Belgian coins but apparently the Pau is a mutilated Rau That would be the name of the coin designer/engraver ... see these links: Et comme pendant le premier conflit mondial, on se mit dès 1941, à monnayer le zinc d'après les types existants de Jespers ou de nouveaux créés par M Rau. http://users.skynet.be/sky03271/pag10l3.html Also see the type Rau pictures here: http://users.skynet.be/sky03271/pag10rg.html Christian
Thanks for straightening me out on that! With a shelf of almanacs, etc., I wrote from my failing memory. Is Aachen still the same as Aix-la-Chapelle or am I wrong about that, too? Michael "wiser again"
Perfectly right Aachen is called "Aix-la-Chapelle" in French and "Aken" in Dutch. And if you want to go to Aachen from somewhere in Belgium, any of the three versions may be on the road signs, depending on which language area you are in. (It is somewhat better on the freeway/autobahn.) Can be confusing for those who rarely drive there ... Christian
I was on here to look up a Belgie 5 Frank coin and saw your post about Aachen. That happens to be my family on my father's side coming from Belguim, Holland and France and coming to New York in the 1640's on the Hudson River.
chrisild already answered why the name Rau was written on the coin: Marcel Rau is indeed the designer of both obverse and reverse. About the person depicted: the portrait is in fact the goddess Ceres. As Belgium was in a full constitutional crisis at the time (it still is, but for other reasons) about the returning of king Leopold III from exile, the government decided it was better not to put the king's effigy on the new coins. So the goddes Ceres, goddess of agriculture was chosen to figurate on the 1 and 5 francs coins. After WW II king Leopold III, who was taken to Germany, was advised to stay outside the country as his position in Belgium was not very clear. Some people thought he collaborated with the German occupier. So, he went into exile in Switzerland and his brother prince Charles of Flanders became prince-regent. In 1950, the regency of prince Charles of Flanders ended. King Leopold III returned to Belgium and abdicated almost immediately in favour of his son Baudouin. The Ceres-coins were struck until 1981 and circulated until the end of the eighties.
chrisild already explained some facts about languages in my country, but the situation is a bit more complicated. Chrisild explained German is also used on some of our coins. That's because German is, besides French and Dutch, one of the 3 official languages of Belgium instead of 2. Since Belgium became a federal state in the nineties, it consists of 3 communities and 3 federal states: the Flemish community (Dutch-speaking) lives in Flanders and the capital region of Brussels, the French community in Wallonia and the capital region of Brussels, and the German community in a part of Wallonia next to the German border. Walloon is a French dialect, while Flemish is a variant of Dutch. You can regard the difference between Flemish and Dutch in the same way as the difference between American English and Oxford English.
