Napoleon The Third

Hi. This French coin dates back to the eighteenth century. It represents Emperor Napoleon III and weighs 24.79 g. I'd like to read your opinions about its authenticity,grade and approximate value? this coin was hidden in one of my old boxes.Thanks a lot guys.. Charles

 

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It's a 19th Century coin and not uncommon. The grade is fairly typical for a circulated example, call it VF. Value is modest, about the same as an ordinary silver dollar in similar condition.

 

France 1867A 5 Francs, Paris mint, KM#799.1 mintage-6,586,000 .900 silver
grade/value. looks authentic
F-$10.00 VF-$20.00 XF-$90.00 UNC-$275.00
Krause values may differ from real life values.
I personally like seeing that bee mark to the left of the date. my main focus is coins with insects.

 

I buy a lot of these on eBay - they generally sell for $20-25. They were minted in fairly large numbers.

 

A very historical coin too with Nap. III's connection to the illfated Emperor Maximilian of Mexico and the Franco- Prussian War.

 

Napoleon III was an idiot. His end had as much to do with venereal disease as anything else, -not even his closest aids could trust him around their wives. Starting the Franco-Prussian War was another blot on his reign. But his coins are pretty cool, and he did make Paris what it is today. If you want learn more about him, a great book for you:

http://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-III-His-Carnival-Empire/dp/0312018274

Of particular interest to some of us, the book covers Maximilian's disastrous reign in Mexico in great depth, something undertaken on a whim by Napoleon III who then bailed-out on Max and his wife. Max's wife then frantically searched all the courts in Europe looking for a monarch to rescue her unfortunate husband.

 

Max was just as crazy refusing to leave when he had the chance.

 

Not wanting to hi-jack this thread but since we are talking about Nap.III coins there is a neat series of satirical tokens "honoring" him. Is there a proper place for those some where on this site?

 

Serve them up right here, would be great to see those.

 

Well, back in them thar days a dollar sized silver coin would fetch a dollar sized amount of sincere consideration in commercial transactions.
Hard money is hard money.
...don't forget to bite it or give it a chop-mark.

 

French silver crown. Italy back in that era had a similar sized silver coin of 5 Lire. Pre-paper currency these crowns were used a lot.