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 Replies: 10 / Views: 19,048 |
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Valued Member
United States
235 Posts |
I recently bought an 1818-W 20-franc piece. I believe the "W" is for Lille. Can anyone proviode us with a complete list of 18th and 19th century French mint marks? Thank you.
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Pillar of the Community
Belgium
2078 Posts |
They are in Krause goldcoins of the world
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Moderator
 Australia
16816 Posts |
What you ask... is difficult. France had dozens of mints in mediaeval times, a relic of the time when what we now call "France" was fractured into dozens of small feudal states, each with its own mint. In the 1700's Krause, I count 30 mints still active, though the listing is confusing; there may have been other mints which only issued sporadically, and some mints seem to have changed mintmarks.
In Revolutionary and Napoleonic times, France expanded into new territories, and the conquered mints which issued French coins were assigned mintmarks too. Places like Turin (Savoy-Piedmont-Sardinia, now in Italy), Utrecht (now in the Netherlands) and even Rome (Italy) suffered this fate. On the other side, to back the monarchist cause, Britain struck some French gold coins, too, adding a "London mintmark" (KM# 707) to the series. France lost these mints after 1815.
In the 1800's Krause, 20 mints (including the ones mentioned above) are listed. By the time of the Second Empire in the 1860's, there were about 7 left.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Valued Member
 United States
235 Posts |
Thank you for the information. In an archived posting about French ecus, one member furnished me with scans of four pages of a book, in French, showing mint marks and privy marks. I now have a list of major mints from 1780 - 1850, which will be adequate for my purpose of collecting a few crown-sized pieces and gold pieces which circulated in the United States from colonial times until 1857.
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Valued Member
France
285 Posts |
French mints An 4 to 1900
A = Paris An 4 to 1898
AA = Metz An 5 to An 8
B = Rouen An 5 to 1846 and 1853 to 1857
BB = Strasbourg An 5 to 1870 - BB until 1831 and two B (one on other) since 1831
CL = Genoa 1813 to 1814
D = Lyon An 5 to 1840 and 1848 to 1858
G = Geneva An VIII to 1805
H = La Rochelle An 12 to 1835
I = Limoges An 4 to 1835
K = Bordeaux An 4 to 1857, 1861 to 1867, 1870 to 1878
L = Bayonne An 4 to 1835
M = Toulouse An 12 to 1836
MA (mixed letters) = Marseille An 9 to 1839 and 1853 to 1857
Q = Perpignan An 5 to 1835
R = Orleans An 5
T = Nantes An 4 to 1820 and 1826 to 1835
W = Lille An 4 to 1846 and 1853 to 1857
Mast and flag = Utrecht 1812 to 1813
U = Torino An 12 to 1813
R with crown on it = Rome 1812 to 1813
R = London 1815
Other mints exist after 1900
Cheers!
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
G'day, I'm in the early stages of learning about French coins. I've been compiling a list of mintmarks from any source that I lay my eyes on. I didn't think to note down dates. Here's a few not in Spica's list, but maybe they weren't included because they are outside the stated range of dates ...
C St LÔ
N Montpelier
U Turin, Italy
x AIX; Amiens
Z Grenoble en 1564
9 frappe à Rennes
Peter in Oz
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Valued Member
Australia
112 Posts |
do you know when the french mintmarks were used on their coins? Just been looking at french coins; the Napoleon III and pre-WWI coins use mintmarks (ive noticed D, W, A, BB and K on the napoleon coins), the post WWI and vichy dont - not that I can see, then there are some coins between 1947 and 1957 that use a B mintmark, and some without any mintmark. Then after that I cant see any other mintmarks.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
G'day, as I understand it, the mintmarks disappeared once Paris became the sole mint.
Before that, the mints dwindled in number over many years.
I collect coins from the revolutionary period, 1789~1815, and there were about a dozen mints (don't quote me, please) active then. From what I have seen, in my limited experience, every coin of that period had a mintmark. By far the most commonly seen is "A", meaning Paris.
Apparently, mints flourished in the Feudal and Royal periods, but I haven't read up on them, nor on the period after 1815.
Peter in Darwin
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1238 Posts |
quote:
the post WWI and vichy dont - not that I can see, then there are some coins between 1947 and 1957 that use a B mintmark, and some without any mintmark. Then after that I cant see any other mintmarks.
Well, there are various coins issued between WW1 and 1958 that have a "location specific" mint mark. Here is one from Beaumont-Le-Roger ("B"), a Vichy regime 1F piece: http://www.numismatique-fr.com/imag...d_168271.jpgAnd another one, also from Beaumont; that should be one of the last "non-Parisian" coins: http://www.numismatique-fr.com/imag...d_112429.jpgThe mint (Monnaie de Paris) uses the cornucopia as its mint mark, regardless of theplace where the coin is made. These days for example all French coins are made in Pessac near Bordeaux. Christian |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
Fascinating....I used to live 3 miles from Pessac, in the city (Bordeaux). I always valued the area for its wine (especially Haut Brion), but didn't know that it had a mint, too. Are they now coining Euros, or just special issue French commemoratives?
If anyone out there is an expert in 5 franc Union et Force coins, I have some questions:
-"Avec glands" and "Sans glands": all of the oak branches appear to have some acorns, so what do these designations mean?
-Can these coins be dated if the L'an designation is worn off?
-Are mint-by-mint coinages for 1793-1800 period published anywhere?
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
10/11/2007 11:21 am
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1238 Posts |
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Replies: 10 / Views: 19,048 |
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Posted 06/29/2007 9:23 pm
