In continuing the attribution of the lesser material in my collection, I found that there are two slightly different varieties of the France 2 francs 1944 C. I have labeled the coin in hand the 'high C' and the coin from the Comptoir des Monnaise the 'low C'. Below for comment, find images of same. OBVERSE OF COIN AT HAND. MAGNIFIED OBVERSE IMAGE OF COIN IN HAND. NOTE THE 'C' OVERLAPS ABOUT 2/3 OF THE FIRST STAR ON THE AXE. REVERSE OF COIN IN HAND. IMAGE OF FRANCE 2 FRANCS 1944 C FROM COMPTOIR DES MONNAISE WEBSITE. MAGNIFIED IMAGE OF FRANCE 2 FRANCS 1944 C FROM THE COMPTOIR DES MONNAISE WEBSITE. NOTE THE 'C' IS BELOW THE FIRST STAR ON THE AXE.
An interesting read when looking at this coin. The Vichy France government (South France and North Africa) was a puppet of Nazi Germany from 1943-1944 until the allies took control. As far as I can make out, the dies for the aluminium issue were produced at the Paris mint, as evidenced on the reverse bottom left of the date. The 2 different mintmarks B or C would have then been added by the mints of B Beaumont-le-Roger, France C Castelsarrasin, France as required, so I assume there would be a small difference in position, the same way that the MM position changes on US currency while they were being hand-punched into existing dies.
