France L'AN5-I 5 centimes KM-640.7
This specimen was lot 74818 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, September 2025), where it sold for $168. The catalog description[1] noted, "FRANCE. Directory. 5 Centimes, Year 5-I (1796/7). Limoges Mint. PCGS VG-10. Large type. Variety with "CNIQ" spelling. From the Richard August Collection." The numismatics of the bronze coinage of the First Republic of France is complex. For the five centimes, the first issue (An 4-5) was 5 g, 23 mm diameter and was immediately rejected by the populace along with the 10 g décime (10 centimes) and the 20 g double décime (20 centimes). During An 5, the government tried again with larger coins, increasing the 5 centimes to 10 g and the décime to 20 g and abandoning the double décime. The revised types met with some success and they were issued in substantial numbers until An 9. Leftover stocks of light weight décimes were overstruck into five centimes and double décimes converted into décimes. In all, about 114 million were produced for the type. They circulated until the 1850's and today few are found in Very Fine or better. This is a scarce date despite the large mintage; collectors of the day scorned copper coinage and few were saved. The "CNIQ" error is rare and is also found on overstruck five centimes.
Recorded mintage: 8,556,589 including regular date and overmintmark I/A plus plus 491,873 of the small size plus 654,642 struck over décimes (KM 642).
Specification: bronze, 10 g, 28 mm diameter, "chevronned" edge, designed by Augustin Dupré (1748-1833).
Catalog reference: KM-640.7; Gad-126; F.115/11.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- Gadoury, Victor, Monnaies Françaises, 1789-2019, 24me éd., Monaco: Éditions Victor Gadoury, 2019.
- Prieur, Michel, and Laurent Schmitt, Le Franc 10: Les Monnaies. Paris: Éditions les Chevau-légers, 2014.
- Guilloteau, Victor, Monnaies Françaises, Colonies 1670-1942 et Metropole 1774-1942, Versailles, 1942.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, September 2025 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, including Selections from the Richard Margolis Collection and Selections from the L.E. Bruun Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2025.
Link to:
- L'AN 4-A 5 centimes
- L'AN 4-T 5 centimes
- L'AN 4-W 5 centimes
- France L'AN 5 centime pattern
- L'AN 5-A large 5 centimes
- L'AN 5-BB large 5 centimes, restruck over un décime
- L'AN 5-R large 5 centimes
- L'AN 5-W large 5 centimes
- L'AN 5-A décime
- L'AN 5-B décime
- L'AN 5-BB décime
- L'AN 5-D décime
- L'AN 5-I décime
- L'AN 5-W décime
- L'AN 5-A 5 francs
- L'AN 5-BB 5 francs
- L'AN 5-K 5 francs
- L'AN 5-Q 5 francs
- L'AN 5-T 5 francs
- L'An 7-A 5 centimes
- L'An 7-W 5 centimes
- Coins and currency dated 1796