Question About The Popularity If French Coins

I think that there are a few reasons why French coins lack popularity. The modern coins are just too easily available. You could probably put together a full set by digging through dealer's junk boxes.

The older coins are a different problem all together. More than 36 different mints, each with it's own set of mint marks that change with each new director of the mint. It's numismatic mayhem. Some KM numbers have 16 different sub varieties attached to them. I wouldn't even know where to start putting a collection together.

rosso_rubino- I do agree that there are collectors in France. (In fact, the person who told me that the population of coin collectors in France was rather small was himself a numismatist.) But it just seems that many older coins from the 17th and 18th century are quite unappreciated. I personally find 18th century French Ecu coins to be just as beautiful as talers of that period, yet the Ecus are much cheaper and there seems to be virtually no discussion of them either at coin shows or on this forum.

Hi Folks:

I've been lurking on this site for a little while, and enjoy the info and opinion available here about coin collecting; however, as an avid collector of French coins I felt a need to actually finally register and respond to this thread. (So you've all done your jobs!) I apologize in advance if this becomes a longish read.

Largely, I agree with several of the assertions made here: I cannot dispute the claim that collecting French coins is not very popular in the US, nor is coin-collecting generally as popular in France as it is in the US. Nonetheless, I believe it is wrong to think this is because of French history or because of the abundance of cheap modern coins (the French mint ran some of the highest mintage numbers going in the 20th century). Quality 19th century French coins are pulling in strong prices on ebay every day, not just Napoleons. It's not because of Napoleon III's defeat at Sedan or the shameful practices of Vichy France that people eschew the coins of those eras. It's absurd to think that coin values and popularity are a function of the popularity of the current political regime. I don't collect American coins because I'm "proud to be an American" or because I thought Mckinley's second term was particularly brilliant. (Brilliantly short, yes!)

Find me a good Napoleon III 5FF piece from any of the earlier 1860s, and I'll show you a coin worth hundreds of dollars in fine. Recently, on ebay again, I saw satirical coins--10centime pieces that had been chiseled over to parody Nap.III--fetch high bids. It's not about nationalism, exceptionalism, or pride. History is history, and it's always interesting to some and not to others. (How many Americans or French today even know who Louis-Philippe Ier was...)

Collecting French coins can be very easy, and can also be excruciatingly hard. I recently paid about $9 for an 1876K 10 cte coin in VF which books much, much higher. Since the Euro changeover, all the Euro countries have seen an increase in numismatic interest. As the memory of the French franc recedes, more people will go after the often very attractive (cf. the 3rd republic Ceres coins) and in any case VERY varied designs of the old coinage. One-franc coins of the 19th are already often very difficult to find in any kind of decent shape.

Finally, I think the KM catalog is also to blame. If any of you are really serious about collecting French, you have to get a hold of "Le Franc VII", it makes it much, much easier to make sense of the mintmarks and varieties, which in turn make it a fun challenge to put together a solid collection. Well-illustrated, this book also gives you essential info on grading each coin type.

So yes, the French collect less, and it's cultural. Not because of history, pride, or boredom factor. Like collecting much of our early coinage, you need to have some money to get into the first 100 years of French francs. It can be easy and hard. But they have some of the most beautiful designs going, and some amazing interplay between coinage and world history (see Louis XVIII's First Restoration coinage for instance, or the various siege coinages). And we need a catalog that helps sort the types/grades/values out better than KM do.
Thanks for reading this far!
Peace fellow coiners,
-SeriousCERES

G'day & welcome to Ceres,
I collect French coins upto 1815.
In particular, 1792~.
My favourite coin is my 1811A/coq 40F, one of the very few error coins that I can muster any interest in.

I look at my 1815 Napoleons in awe: he was only in power for "le cent jours", but the Mint came over to his side and put out a few coins in his image. Coins are history, and some coins of 1815 pack a lot of history into 6.45 grams.

Then there's the 1792 bronze: made from church bells, with all the significance that pulling them down has.

Even the British gold Sovereign, which commenced in 1817, is connected: St George is a metaphor for England, Britain, the United Kingdom, King George III and/or Prince-Regent George (later King George IV) - take your pick; he is vanquishing the dragon, metaphor for Napoleon. They still use that design in the Third Millenium.

I won't take up space by prattling on about Marengo and Eridania, but students of this era will understand me.

What I've noticed is that collectors of French coins love their ecus, more so than the gold.

Peter in Oz

SeriousCERES- Thank you very much for your input! Very interesting. Frankly, I'm quite glad to hear that you are a major collector of French coins since there really are so few on this forum.

SeriousCERES welcome to the forum and thanks for a well written post. We could use some more darksiders here and I would enjoy seeing some of your French coins if you have the time to post.

Thanks to all for the warm welcome and comments!
I've gotta work on getting some images together of some of my more interesting acquisitions--but first, gotta pick an avatar. In the meantime, I'd love to hear and see more of what nifty French stuff you guys have, and will keep exploring the many links provided on the site.

Best Regards,
SeriousCERES

I'll put in my 2 Centimes here...French coins are neat. I've been trying to get the 5 and 10 Centimes pieces from the Third Republic. I've got a whole lot of them but there are a lot of them. I also have a certain affinity for the tiny little 20 Centimes silver coins from this period. However, I've got a LOT of French coins, especially if you include the colonials. How fun they are and what a great history lesson in them.