France L'AN8-W 5 centimes
This specimen was lot 43274 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Oklahoma City, OK, August 2025), where it sold for $528. The catalog description[1] noted, "FRANCE. Consulate. Copper 5 Centimes, Year 8/5-W (1799/1800). Lille Mint. PCGS MS-63 Brown. A fairly clear overdate issue, this Choice specimen glistens with even brown surfaces and a good deal of lustrous brilliance emanating from the fields. From the Richard Margolis Collection (acquired from A. H. Baldwin's in London on 6 November 1962 for $1.05)." 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. During An 8, this type was struck at Paris ("A"), Metz ("AA"), Strasbourg ("BB"), Lyon ("D"), Geneva ("G"), Limoges ("I"), Bordeaux ("K") and Lille ("W", shown here). Many varieties exist (L'AN 8/5, 8/6, 8/7 amd repunched mintmarks W/A, W/T and various combinations). This overdate obtains a slight premium.
Recorded mintage: 9,510,009[2].
Specification: 5 g, copper, 23 mm diameter, reeded edge.
Catalog reference: KM-640.11; Gad-126a; F.115/78.
- 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.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, August 2025 Global Showcase Auction, World & Ancient Coins, featuring The Richard August Collection and the Richard Margolis Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2025.
Link to:
- An 7-A 5 centimes
- An 7-W 5 centimes
- An 8-A centime
- An 8-AA 5 centimes
- An 8-BB 5 centimes
- An 8-G 5 centimes
- An 8-AA décime
- An 8-BB décime
- An 8-I décime
- An 8-K décime
- An 8-W décime
- France L'AN 8-A 2 decimes pattern
- France L'AN 8-A 5 decimes pattern
- L'AN 8-A 5 francs
- L'AN 8-D 5 francs
- L'AN 8-K 5 francs
- L'AN 8-L 5 francs
- L'AN 8-Q 5 francs
- L'AN 8/5-T 5 francs
- L'AN 8-W 5 francs
- Coins and currency dated 1799