France 1979 50 francs
This specimen is the final date of 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. The second specimen was lot 23136 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2023), where it sold for $15,600. The catalog description[1] noted, "FRANCE. Gold 50 Francs Piefort, 1979. Paris Mint. NGC PROOF-67 Ultra Cameo. A great modern RARITY, this vibrant, radiant, and exceptionally pleasing example presents some slight frosting upon the devices and a high degree of mirrored brilliance in the fields. For completeness, some haziness is observed on the reverse."
Recorded mintage: 12,040,511 plus 400 in gold plus a few in platinum.
Specification: 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: F.427/7, KM 941.1. The second specimen is KM-P651.
- 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]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The January 2023 NYINC Auction: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Taraszka Collection and the Mark and Dottie Salton Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2022.
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