I recently read a book titled The Miss Stone Affair : America's First Modern Hostage Crisis by Teresa Carpenter, which is about the 1901 kidnapping of a American protestant missionary, Miss Ellen Stone, in Ottoman Macedonia by a band of armed revolutionaries. Miss Stone had been in the area for a long time, spoke their languages, and sympathized with their cause, which caused some suspicions later. The kidnappers also took a local woman to serve as a companion for their hostage; she turned out to be pregnant. They moved around the local mountains to avoid capture. The kidnappers took a long time to negotiate the ransom; enough time to add a baby girl to the hostages. The story got a lot of publicity in the United States, President Theodore Roosevelt was asked to send either US troops or the Navy in, but he wasn't able to resolve the situation. Roosevelt made a statement that American women shouldn't go into these wild places. The Ottoman Turkish government was also involved as some of the territory was Ottoman. A lot of diplomatic maneuvering and dealing with the kidnappers finally resulted in a ransom payment made in early 1902 and the release of the women and baby. The ransom amount was 14,500 Turkish gold lira (about $63,800 US dollars) and was paid in gold Napoleons, which weighed around 105 kg or 232 lbs. What is a "Gold Napoleon"? A Gold Napoleon is basically a French 20 Franc gold coin with a picture of Napoleon I or III on the obverse (There was a Napoleon II but he didn't issue coins). More generally, the coin is any French 20 Franc gold coin, including the varieties with angels or roosters on them. An even more inclusive definition is any French gold coin. Gold Napoleons are 21mm in diameter, weigh 6.45gm, and were worth around US $4 in 1901. Gold Napoleons sometimes turn up in literature, including Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story "The Red-Headed League". In the story, crooks tunnel into a bank to steal a large amount of the coins. A silly reason for wanting a coin but I had to have some: France Gold Napoleon 20 Francs 1810 - Mint W (Lille), Privy mark caduceus, 6.39gm France Gold Napoleon 20 Francs 1863 - Mint BB (Strasbourg), Privy mark anchor, 6.41gm Gold Napoleons also turned up in a recent news story about a German man who found 217 21mm gold coins buried during the Nazi era. 74 of the coins were Napoleons.
Nice story. Always wanted a gold or silver coin with napoleon 1 on it. I have a couple of copper ones.
There are lots of Italian silver and gold coins with Napoleon on them. He was Emperor of many parts of Italy from around 1805 to 1814. From Northern Italy down to Calabria. Napoleon's real name was an Italian name and it's spelled Napoleone Bonaparte. His brother was Giuseppe Bonaparte and Giuseppe was put in charge of the Naples (Napoli) region of Southern Italy during Napoleone's reign in Italy. There are also some rare coins minted in Naples that have the head of Giuseppe Napoleone on them. They are 120 grana, crown sized silver coins. The 1807-1814 Napoleone 5 lire Italian silver coins are crown size, 25 grams. There are also Italian 20 lire gold and 40 lire gold coins with Napoleone on them.
Silly? Maybe, but many of us collect coins for silly reasons. Plus, if you look at them later, you will certainly remember why you bought these pieces. That was in Lüneburg, NI - the man found two bags with Reichsbank seals. They contained 128 Belgian, 74 French, 12 Italian and 3 Austrian-Hungarian gold coins with dates between 1831 and 1910. All common pieces, total value about €45,000. Christian
