20th Century French Type Set?

Hi tkbslc - I attempted exactly what you are suggesting, but then got so absorbed I started collecting the coins by date and mintmark - which is virtually impossible to hope to complete as there are so many rare ones!

It's a good series to collect as the coinage was redesigned several times owing to high inflation, so most coins are readily available in nice condition. The French also had something of a knack of releasing unsuccessful coins that were withdrawn and redesigned after a few years. You don't see many 20th-century French coins in much worse than VF!

I'd say the set would go like this:

1900 - 1920:
Dupuis bronze 1c, 2c, 5c, 10c
Roty silver 50c, 1F, 2F
Patey nickel 25c 2 types - circular 1903 and polygonal 1904-5

Holed coinage 1914-1946 (Lindauer type):
5 centimes cu-ni 1917-20 (large); 1920-38(small); 1938-39 (nickel-bronze)
10 centimes nickel 1914 (rare); cu-ni 1917-38; nickel-bronze 1938-39; zinc 1941; zinc 1945-6 (smaller flan)
20 centimes zinc 1945-6
25 centimes nickel 1914-7; cu-ni 1917-38; nickel-bronze 1938-40

Chamber of Commerce bronze-aluminium coins 1921-29
50c
1F
2F

Morlon coinage
50c 1931-47 (aluminium-bronze); 1941-47 (alu)
1F 1931-41 (alu-br); 1941-59* (alu)
2F 1931-41 (alu-br); 1941-59 (alu)
*The 1943 1F was struck in Algeria and also exists in zinc. Some catalogues list this as a separate type as the dies were engraved locally although it is the same design.

5 Franc coins
1933 small type - Bazor
1933-39 large type - Lavrillier (nickel); 1938-47 (aluminium-bronze); 1945-52 (aluminium)

Bazor type
10F silver 1929-39; cupro-nickel 1945-49
20F silver 1929-39 (rare cupro-nickel 1945 pattern exists)

Vichy French State (Etat Francais) issues:
10c zinc 1941-3 (large); 1943-4 (small)
20c zinc 1941 (denomination in words); 1941-4 (denomination in figures)
20c iron 1944
50c aluminium 1942-44
1F aluminium 1942-44
2F aluminium 1943-44
5F 1941 Petain portrait cu-ni (this coin never actually circulated, so perhaps can be omitted from a type collection)

Philadelphia Mint type
2F 1944 brass

Cockerel type - aluminium bronze
10F 1950-58
20F 1950-54
50F 1950-58

Cochet type
100F cupro-nickel 1954-58

Recoinage 1960: 100 old francs = 1 new franc

1 centime stainless steel 1962-2001
5 centimes stainless steel 1961-64
5 centimes aluminium-bronze 1966-2001
10 centimes aluminium-bronze 1962-2001
20 centimes aluminium-bronze 1962-2001
50 centimes aluminium-bronze 1962-64
Half Franc nickel 1965-2001
1F nickel 1960-2001
2F nickel 1979-2001
5F silver 1960-69
5F nickel-plated cupro-nickel 1970-2001
10F silver 1965-73
10F cupro-nickel-aluminium 1974-1987
10F nickel (small planchet) 1986 (withdrawn after a few months)
10F bimetallic 1988-2001
20F bimetallic 1992-2001 (rare pattern silver 1973 20F exists)
50F silver 1974-1980
100F silver 1982-2001

Not all the above were necessarily minted for every year, or issued for circulation - some dates are NCLT.

Until 1982 France didn't issue commemorative coins. Since then, they have issued two basic types of commemorative. The first type are issued for circulation and were originally distributed at face value. The second type are sold to collectors and are usually in precious metals and sold for far more than face value - they are also usually larger than circulating coins of the same denominations.

I am pretty sure that these commemorative coins were all issued at face value:

1F: 1988 De Gaulle; 1989 Etats-Generaux; 1992 Republic; 1995 French Institute; 1996 Jacques Rueff
2F: 1993 Jean Moulin; 1995 Pasteur; 1997 Guynemer; 1998 Human Rights
5F: 1989 Eiffel Tower; 1992 Mendes-France; 1994 Voltaire; 1995 UN; 1996 Hercule
10F cu-ni-al: 1982 Gambetta; 1983 Space; 1983 Stendhal; 1984 Francois Rude; 1985 Victor Hugo; 1987 Capet dynasty; 1988 Roland Garros.
10F nickel: 1986 Robert Schuman
(10F bimetallic: 1989 Montesquieu was NCLT although issued in standard metal)
20F: 1993 Mediterranean Games; 1994 Coubertin
100F (silver) - one commemorative per year was issued from 1984 to 1997.

I may have missed something - I am sure other CCF members will correct me!

to assist your research, keep an eye out for a copy the standard catalogue, published by Monsieur GADOURY.

You might want to look here for additional info as there are also patterns (Essai): http://www.cgb.fr/boutique,modernes.html

And while not a French type set, my 'Marianne' themed collection does include quite a few French coins of course!

Great, thanks for the link.

I probably have 95+ % of the 20th century french type coins, not counting gold.

I have found most of these in junk boxes or from bulk lots.

I occasionally pick up coins back to the 1st Empire or before but they are less common to find cheaply.

One site I have bookmarked that I found helpful was:
http://www.lesfrancs.com/french_franc.html

I like that they are grouped by period with pictures.

Your set will include the latter half of 3rd Republic - Euro.

old thread, sorry. Just wanted to shout out a "thanks, this is very helpful" to this thread's contributors.

ok, so I have a slightly different problem. I have a bunch of French Euro 5c coins. Is there an album that arranges them by year like a whitman does for the US nickels?

There's always room to create digital coin albums if you are willing to spend the time and effort...