FRENCH COIN COLLECTING ?
The Coins of Napoleon
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Napoleon astounded his era with his qualities of statesman and of general. A worthy successor of Julius Caesar and of Charlemagne, he attempted to unify Europe and almost managed as far as coins were concerned. The gold 20-franc piece that he created in 1803, the Napoleon, became the model for all the coins of the Latin Union which circulated in Europe up to 1914. Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Greece … had coins of the value of 20 Swiss francs, 20 pesetas, 20 Belgian francs, 20 drachmas, which circulated in the whole of Europe. For political reasons, only the English and the German empire refused to follow this direction. Attempts were even made to unify European and American coins, which explains these very rare trial coins bearing 5$ on one side and 25 francs on the other… |
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A 5-franc Ecu From the year 12 (1806) struck in Paris. The finest known example. |
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| His gold or silver coins are often rare, or very rare, for the small mints. Much research is at present being done and the reference collection is that of a big American dealer who, having been keen on the 1798/1815 period for a number of years, has constituted the finest collection of these coins, far better than those of French museums. Again there exists no record of conditions and no record of the number of known examples, even of very rare coins as for example those struck in Rome or Geneva, in French possession at the time. |
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Two examples of the Monetary portrait under Napoleon |
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A 'Décime' struck in 1814 in Strasbourg. |
| The prices are still quite low for rarities… to quote an American dealer who knows French coins admirably well, looking at a 20-franc 1815A MS 65 (FDC 65), " an American coin as rare as this, as historically important and in such exceptional condition would be worth not 20 000 FRF but 250 000 $ ". |
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A silver strike of the Tilsit Congress medal. Estimated at : 2 500
FRF.
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| The First Empire is also an exciting period for medal-collectors : so many events which changed, or almost changed, the face of the earth, from the sale of Louisiana to the battle of Moscow, the adoption of the Civil Code, which was respected by all the countries which did not use English law…hundreds of events immortalised in bronze or silver are available to collectors, generally for very modest sums. |
The ecus presented on this page come from the A.D. collection
and we would therefore like to express our gratitude.
