French Tribute

1811 Gold 40 Francs, minted in Paris ('A' mintmark), showing Napoleon Bonaparte who was crowned Emperor of France in Notre-Dame Cathedral on December 2, 1804. Well, being a modest sort of chap, he actually placed the crown on his own head, although Pope Pius VII was in attendance!

Excellent!

- From Paris -

Kingdom of France -- 1/4 ecu, 1591:

A couple of coins from 1961. The first is a chrome-steel 5 centimes. This coin had a very short life in circulation as it was replaced by a smaller aluminium-bronze one in 1966:


.. and the Sower again on the obverse of a silver 5-franc coin. I brought this one back from holiday in France in 1971, when the silver 5 franc coin was already being replaced by the nickel-clad cupro-nickel version:


Here's a 1972 base metal 5-franc coin - this was demonetised in 2002 when France adopted the Euro. It's the same size as the silver 5F, but lighter (10g instead of 12g), and, apart from the obvious difference in the size of the obverse lettering, has another major difference - the edge is milled whereas the silver coins had 'LIBERTE EGALITE FRATERNITE' in raised letters around the edge.

Many French shops, train stations and banks would keep coins in grey plastic racks with the edges clearly visible, and, as a teenager in the late 1970s, I would look in the coin racks to see if I could spot any silver coins. Then I would be cheeky and ask for them!

1578 France.
1/8 Ecu.
Henry III

Thanks! NumisRob

Francis I was a contemporary of Henry VIII of England
Teston of Dauphine (nd, circa 1528)


Portrait by Jean Clouet, c. 1530

@NumisRob, indeed that is a great Art Nouveau design.

@t360, nice Francois Teston ... same hairdo as Duke Antoine in your avatar .

This one from a bit later ... Henry III Teston, Paris mint 1575 (the "A" for Paris is at 6:00 obv). For a brief time (1573-75), Henry was concurrently King of France and King of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. Rumor (and television miniseries) holds that he may heave also been a suitor of Queen ELizabeth.