France 1975 50 francs
The first specimen was lot 2844 in Stephen Album sale 41 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2021), where it sold for $336. The catalog description[1] noted, "FRANCE: AR 50 francs piéfort, 1975, NGC graded Proof 66, R." This specimen is from a type struck at the Paris mint 1974-80. The mint's attempt to circulate a silver five francs in 1960-65 having proved a failure, they tried again with a silver ten francs which was also massively hoarded. This fifty francs was the third attempt, also a failure as a circulating coin. The coin is unknown in circulated condition tho bumps, scratches and hairlines are common. The design is a near clone of the Union et Force five francs minted in during the first Republic of France.
Recorded mintage: 4,552,011 plus 955 pieforts.
Specification: regular issue 30 g, 0.900 fine silver, 41 mm diameter, .868 troy oz ASW, decorated edge, after a design by Augustin Dupré (1748-1833).
Catalog reference: Gad-882, KM-P536, KM-941, F.427/3.
- 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]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 41, featuring the Dick Nanta Collection of Giray Khans, Part II, the Charles Opitz Collection of Ethnographic Money, Part II, and the Allan F. Pacela Collection of Chinese Coins. Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2021.
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