Collectors Of French Coins?

The price does seem a bit high and the quality is not spectacular. I just saw a 1686-LL ecu in Jim Elmen's World Wide Coins catalog (lot # 21). It's described as an Ecu Carambole pour la Flandre, struck on a heavy planchlet 37.29 grams. He calls it a good VF but it's definately no better. Unfortunately his estimate is $2,750 for the critter. I guess he has some strong Frnch collectors on his list?

Hi t,

Sorry for the delay. I needed to research the ecu Carambole and can summarize some from George Sobin's book (The Silver Crowns of France).
Carambole ecus were made for Flanders and Artois. These were made in 1685-86 and then some were restruck to dates of 1693-99. These were heavy coins (37.29 grams standard, .858 fine) with the 1686-LL being the most common. When Louis XIV obtained control of the Spanish provinces of Flanders and Artois, they were used to a mix of rude, weight deficient Spanish cobs. The Carambole ecus were struck from melting these Spanish cobs but without the extra effort of refining the silver to a higher purity: thus they were of large size. A further article is by P. Prieur in REVUE NUMISMATIQUE, 1947-48, pp 57-117.

The Elmen coin (1686-LL) is considerably nicer than the one you picture but still looks VF-20-ish. He dislikes the Internet and only hard copy catalogs are produced. I'll get you his email & try to digitize & post a pix of the coin in another post. His estimate is $2750 and it seems that he has an exceptionally strong French audience for his stuff. I've never gotten a major French coin from him despite bidding ~ $2650 for a Napoleon III 5 Francs (MS-60) in his last auction.

Well your brass coin definately appears to be a token or such based on a French 5 or 10 centimes issued from ~1850 until 1898. It is not a French coin as these all read Republique Francois (or something similar). Can you provide the size and any more deatils?

@Gallienus, I measured the coin with a ruler, the diameter is 2.7CM

more info,
if I flip my coin from left to right,



what I get is an inverted of this

Hi Gallienus,
Here is a 5 francs Union et Force, an 11A you might be interested in,
http://www.muenzauktion.com/poinsig...1820&lang=de

G'day, I'm new to the Forum. I got interested in French coins a few years ago - specifically from 1789 to 1815. One of the things that impressed me was how rapidly the political changes in that era were reflected in the coinage: the workers at the mint must have read the early editions of their daily newspapers before selecting the dies for the day's work.
Another surprising feature of French gold coins of that era is that they often sell for little more than bullion value - unless they've got a mintmark other than "A", of course.
So far, I'm still at "entry level": collectors of French coins seem quite happy to pay mega-Euros for TTB specimens of non-A-mm.
It is interesting to read the comments of other coins about slabbed coins. In Australia, no-one seems much impressed by it. Recently a few of our local coins have come on to the market after being slabbed and graded as "proof", when there were no proof coins minted in the year in question. Credibility of so-called professional graders is pretty low here.
Peter in Oz

G'day & thankyou. I enjoyed the site.
The kangaroo penny was issued from 1938 to 1964.
The most expensive Australian coin ever sold was a proof penny of 1930 (pre-kangaroo) - only 6 known to exist, and only 3 of them in private hands - the last sale was in 2005, for AUD $630,000.00 [~US $500,000]: not bad for 9.45g of bronze. It was said at that time that it was the most expensive bronze coin ever sold, but I wouldn't know how to verify if that was or remains accurate.
Peter in Oz