Am I Missing Something?

I think they are a little expensive.... Run Forest Run!
Typically any of these I get go in my bulk buckets.. A the very best I could expect to get about 50% Krause fro them...

Ah well, at least they have good pictures and are helpful with mint marks. Looks like it's back to the 9 to five again.

This is going to sound bad, but I mean it in the best possible way: yes, you are missing something!

Let me give you guys a little backstory on this: the CGB is a major French coinseller. They have an extensive inventory, and run frequent auctions where top specimens of French coins sell for prices rivalling/exceeding Heritage auctions. Furthermore, a couple people from their outfit are involved in the publication of one of the two French coin catalogs, "Le Franc". Their coin-grading has always looked accurate--even though they botch the English attributions (bad translations of the French attributions); go by the Sheldon numbers!--and is respected by collectors. In short: as far-fetched as their pricing may appear on the website, these people know the market very well, and they know what prices they can ask. Great quantities of coins are bought and sold through their doors. Can you do better elsewhere? If you have the inclination, means, and time? Sure, yeah, go for it! That's the fun of hunting. I always try to do better than pricelists. But I can tell you that for many items you will either not find a better price or wait a good while before doing so.

Remember too that the market for Darkside coins is very different in many of the countries of origin than in the US and other country coin markets. For whatever reason--the more robust European economy, nostalgia for the old francs, who knows?--collectors of French coins have proven they're willing and able to pay good money for top coins. This market difference is noticeable when you look at prices in the Krause catalogs and in catalogs from the country in question.

Sometimes, this results in absurd disparities. Yesterday, I fished a 1954 10 Franc piece out of a junk bin at a coin show in the US, and paid 25 cents for it. My estimation puts it at AU50--it is in very good shape. CGB has a 50 for sale at 25 euros.

Lastly, the page your redirect goes to lists 1961 French francs. This is one of three rather peculiar one-franc dates from the 60s that fetch very high prices in AU-MS, and I have NO IDEA WHY. I'm referring to the 1960 large 0 variety, the 1961, and the 1962. If any of you guys has one of these dates in AU-MS, please PM me. No joke: I'd like to get a look. The 1961 one franc shows a mintage number of almost 120 million, and yet--as your CGB page shows--better grades are rare. The 1962's cat values make some sense, because the mintage number plummets to 14 million, but still...

I find a lot of Fifth Republic coinage in buckets, lots of the CuNi 5 francs from the 1970s, lots of one francs from the 60s-80s. With the 1960 one franc mintage at nearly half a billion(!), there's no surprise I see this everywhere I see French francs. I've never found a large-0, nor have I found a 1962. The only 1961s I find are all VFs, with close to zero cat value. Let me repeat my standing offer: find me a high grade for these, and you'll have found yourself a buyer.

So some dates are exceptional for the 5th Republic, most are very ordinary and you'll never get near Krause values for it. What makes collecting francs fun is that they went through many more design changes throughout the 19th and 20th centuries than my (cherished) US coins, and there are many, many strange dates like 1962, or 1954, or 1950 (see the 20 franc rooster, what a mess!). (We have key dates too for all of our series of course, but it seems to me not nearly as many.)

Yours,
SCS

@ Ceres, I know what you mean about the 20 franc. I have 1950s with 3 & 4 plumes and Beaumont-le-Roger with 4 plumes and Lord knows what else.
As far as the 1 Franc, I've got an English grade XF 1961 and grand & petit chouette 1965. Also a 1958 100 Franc chouette, and that did come as a surprise.
This is turning out to be a whole lot of fun, and as I speak French I've been trawling my continental neighbour's sites for the last two hours. Mighty interesting.

From what you're saying, I deduce that there's a 1950 B with a full Georges Giraud signature? Any idea of value?

Thank you, I think you've just made an old man moderately happy.

Very nice Maudry. Unfortunately mine is just about TB, but it's something I would not have recognised without the help of the good people of CCF.

I was very happy with this one I found in a bulk lot I bought from a silver/gold dude.. I bought 6 kilo what he called "misery" for €60,- .. Turned out he missed 75 grams pure silver and a lot more nice stuff.. But this one made me very happy.. One hole less to fill..