France Gold Franc

The France Gold Franc was introduced in 1861. During the first minting phase, it was minted up to 1914 after which minting stopped. In 1930, minting was introduced again and continued until 2012 when it was replaced by the Euro. Before this replacement by the Euro was legal tender after which it is now a bullion coin.

The France Gold Franc is the work of the Paris Mint. In French, the Paris Mint is known as, “Monnaie de Paris.” It was established in 864AD, which makes it the oldest mint in the world that has been running continuously. The Paris Mint is wholly owned by the Government of Franc. Its headquarters are in Paris although it has an onsite location in Pessac, France.

The France Gold Franc comes in denominations of 20, 50 and 100 Francs. The 20 Franc coin is 21mm wide and spans 1.4mm in thickness. The 50 and 100 denomination spans 28mm and 35mm wide with a thickness of 1.8mm and 2.3mm respectively. The 50 Franc coins were the first ones to be minted between 1861 and 1868 followed by the 20 Franc coins between 1899 and 1914 and eventually the 100 Franc is the latest of them all minted in pre-1933.

The 50 Franc obverse features a depiction of Emperor Napoleon III, the 20- and 100-Franc coins depicts a modified portrait of Roman goddess Ceres. In either case, this depiction is encircled by the inscription “REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE”. The reverse side is uniform across all the denominations, it depicts a cockerel which was developed to symbolize the fighting spirit of the French Revolution. It also features the face value of the coin and the inscription “LIBERTE EGALITE FRATERNITE” meaning freedom, equality and fraternity.

The intrinsic value of France Gold Franc is worth more than the face value. Besides not attracting sales tax or VAT, this is the other major reason why many investors and collectors prefer it. Many investors trade in this bullion coin because of its unique features as well as its ever-increasing value as the coins keep reducing in number since they are no longer being minted.