Information On A Gold 5 Franc With Laurel Head Wreath Please

To participate in the forum you must log in or register.

Author	Replies: 5 / Views: 2,004
ruffhouserosie New Member United Kingdom 3 Posts	Posted 08/25/2011 10:43 am Hello all, I hope you can help me. I'm actually contacting you on behalf of my father who isn't very "au fait" with technology. He's interested in finding out more information on a tie pin he owns which is made from a 5 franc coin. I know you're more interested in untouched coins but I thought if anyone could help him they'd be on this forum The coin bears the following information on the front of the coin :- Napoleon III - Empereur The Napoleon on the coin is wearing a laurel on his head. The back of the coin has the following information visible :- Empire Francais - 5 Francs But sadly the actual date on the coin is obscured by the solder used to affix the pin. I've taken photos but I'm afraid they were of too large a file size to upload to your site and I'm not knowledgeable enough to know how to "shrink them to fit". They weren't very good though, you're not missing much We were hoping the fact he's wearing a laurel could, by process of elimination, give clues as to it's age and to be quite frank (franc ) we wondered if it were worth anything? Any help in this matter would be most gratefully accepted, thanks so much for taking the time to read this posting. Report this Post to the Staff

wheatiefan Pillar of the Community United States 508 Posts	Posted 08/25/2011 11:07 am I went to "Don's World Coin Gallery" on the internet and looked at all of the 5 Franc coins from that era. This coin fits the description. It was minted from 1861-1870. Unfortunately, if it has been made into a household item, it is no longer valuable as a coin. It is listed as having ~0.72 oz of silver, so that is the base value if sold to a recycler and melted. (that is, if silver is $32-50/oz, the silver value =$23-36.) It may be worth more than that as a tie pin. -wheatiefan Report this Post to the Staff
ruffhouserosie New Member United Kingdom 3 Posts	Posted 08/25/2011 11:59 am Thanks so much for your help re: the fact that it's valueless as a coin now it's been made into a tie pin. The coin in the link however isn't like the one on the pin, our one is gold rather than silver. I'm so sorry to be a nuisance but any information on it now you know it's not silver would really be appreciated. Our thanks once again for your time and trouble! Report this Post to the Staff
bart Pillar of the Community Belgium 651 Posts	Posted 08/25/2011 5:22 pm When it's gold, it will be more like this one. Wheatiefan is right there will be no longer any numismatic value to your coin. Still it will be worth bullion value. It weighs 1.6129 grams and gold content is 90%, so it holds 0.0467 oz. of gold. Benath the wreath you can find a mint mark, which can be A (minted in Paris) or BB (minted in Strasbourg. Your coin was minted from 1861 until 1870 Edited by bart 08/25/2011 5:23 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Peter THOMAS Pillar of the Community Australia 2830 Posts	Posted 08/26/2011 02:46 am just to clarify - during that era, the French had two coins denominated 5-francs - large silver ones; and much smaller gold ones. Report this Post to the Staff
ruffhouserosie New Member United Kingdom 3 Posts	Posted 09/14/2011 10:54 am Thank you all so much for all your help. Very interesting and we really appreciate your expertise :-) You're very kind, our thanks once again! Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 5 / Views: 2,004

To participate in the forum you must log in or register.

All Forums Category: General Numismatic Forums Forum: Identification: Unidentified Coins, Medals, and Tokens

The First Dollar, your premier source for bullion and rare coins. See our bullion list on the site and the coin inventory on ebay.

Silver Gold Bull US is the United States leading bullion dealer. We deliver gold coins, gold bars, silver coins, silver bars and precious metals to your door. Order today!

View Last 100 New Topics

View Last 100 Active Topics

Disclaimer: While a tremendous amount of effort goes into ensuring the accuracy of the information contained in this site, Coin Community assumes no liability for errors. Copyright 2005 - 2026 Coin Community Family- all rights reserved worldwide. Use of any images or content on this website without prior written permission of Coin Community or the original lender is strictly prohibited.
Contact Us | Advertise Here | Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

Coin Community Forum

It took 0.28 seconds to rattle this change.