France 1941 50 centimes KM 894.1a
This specimen is a common date of a type struck at the Paris mint 1941 and 1944-47 under the Vichy regime and the French Fourth Republic (1944-58). This type was struck in aluminum in 1941 after the Nazis told the Vichy regime that aluminum bronze coinage was subject to confiscation. Le Franc states the Vichy issue was 0.80 g while the Free French issue was 0.70 g. This design was suspended by the Vichy regime in favor of the Francisque type. When the Morlon type was resumed in 1944, after the Liberation, it was struck in aluminum. The half franc which replaced it in 1965 with the inauguration of the Fifth Republic was worth one hundred of these coins. This type was demonetized in 1949.
Recorded mintage: unknown but common.
Specification: 0.70 or 0.80 g, aluminum bronze, 18 mm diameter, after a design by Pierre Alexandre Morlon (1878-1951).
Catalog reference: F.192/18, KM 894.1.
- Gadoury, Victor, Monnaies Françaises, 1789-2019, 24me éd., Monaco: Éditions Victor Gadoury, 2019.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Prieur, Michel, and Laurent Schmitt, Le Franc 10: Les Monnaies, Paris: Éditions les Chevau-légers, 2014.
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