France 1876-K 5 francs
This specimen was lot 30513 in Heritage sale 3081 (New York, January 2020), where it sold for $660. The catalog description[1] noted, "France: Republic 5 Francs 1876-K MS65 NGC, Bordeaux mint. Uniformly and lightly toned, underlying brilliance evident throughout. The finest NGC-certified example of the date produced in Bordeaux, which saw only a fraction of Paris's mintage that year. From the Cape Coral Collection of French Ecus and 5 Francs." After the collapse of Napoleon's empire during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the new Third Republic superseded all the imperial types with the "Cérès head" type of 1870-71. This, in turn, was superseded by a revival of the "Hercules" type of the Second Republic, issued 1870-78. The date shown here, 1876-K from the Bordeaux mint, is a better date but not rare. It was officially withdrawn from circulation in 1928 and demonetized in 2005 but ceased to circulate after World War One.
Specification: 25 g, 0.900 fine silver, .7234 troy oz AGW, 37 mm diameter, edge lettered DIEU PROTEGE LA FRANCE, after a design by Augustin Dupré (1748-1833).
Recorded mintage: 1,732,263[2].
Catalog reference: F.334/18, Dav-92, KM 820.2, Gad-745a.
- Davenport, John S., European Crowns and Talers, Since 1800, 2nd Ed., London: Spink & Son, 1964.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [2]Prieur, Michel, and Laurent Schmitt, Le Franc 10: Les Monnaies. Paris: Éditions les Chevau-légers, 2014.
- Gadoury, Victor, Monnaies Françaises, 1789-2019, 24me éd., Monaco: Éditions Victor Gadoury, 2019.
- [1]Bierrenbach, Cristiano, Warren Tucker and Sam Spiegel, Heritage World and Ancient Coins Online Auction 3082, featuring the Caranett Collection, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2019.
- George Sobin, Jr., The Silver Crowns of France, 1640-1973. Teaneck, NJ: Richard Margolis, 1974.
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