France 1950 50 francs
This specimen was lot 1780 in Jean Elsen sale 155 (Brussels, June 2023), where it sold for €140 (about US$184 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"FRANCE, Quatrième République (1947-1959), 50 francs, 1950. Guiraud. Rare. Petits coups. Très Beau. (France, Fourth Republic, 1947-59, fifty francs of 1950. Rare, minor nicks, Very Fine.)"
This specimen is a very scarce date of a type struck at the Paris mint 1950-58 under the Fourth Republic (1946-59). The inflation triggered by the devastation wreaked by World War Two continued thru the 1950's, forcing the regime to strike coins in ever higher denominations. The fifty centimes which replaced it in 1962 with the inauguration of the Fifth Republic was equal to this coin and was struck to a similar standard. This type was not demonetized until 1966.
Recorded mintage: 68,629,600 for 1950-51, nearly all 1951.
Specification: 8 g, aluminum bronze, 27 mm diameter, designed by Georges Guiraud (1900-89).
Catalog reference: KM 918, F.425/3, Gad-880.
- 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.
- [1]Elsen, Philippe, et al., Vente Publique 155, Collection Marc Bar et Distinctions de Jean-Baptiste Nothomb, Brussels: Jean Elsen et ses Fils S.A., 2023.
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