France 1943-B 50 centimes

from the Mountain Groan Collection

This specimen is a scarce date of a type struck at the Paris mint 1942-44 under the French Vichy régime (1940-44) along with similar one and two francs. 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 1950. Thick and thin varieties exist for the type but Le Franc^[1] notes that all 1943-B (Beaumont-le-Roger) issues were made from thin flans.

Recorded mintage: 21,916,000.

Specification: 0.7 g, aluminum, 18 mm diameter, designed by Lucien Bazor (1889-1974).

Catalog reference: F.196/2, KM 914.2.

Source:

• 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.
• ^[1]Prieur, Michel, and Laurent Schmitt, Le Franc 10: Les Monnaies, Paris: Éditions les Chevau-légers, 2014.

Link to:

• 1941 50 centimes bronze
• 1941 VINGT centimes
• 1943 10 centimes small
• 1943 franc
• 1943 2 francs, aluminum, Vichy
• 1943 pattern 10 francs, Petain
• 1944-B 50 centimes
• 1966 ½ franc
• Coins and currency dated 1943