France 1875-A 5 centimes

from the Mountain Groan Collection

The specimen shown is a five centimes, Cérès head, of a type struck under the Third Republic of France 1871-98. The majority, including this one, are Paris mint issues but Bordeaux produced this type in 1871-78. There are 41 dates in the series, with a few rare dates, most notably the 1871-K and 1878-K. The 1875-A is a better date compared to the common issues of the 1890's but is not scarce. The total production for the series is about 73 million, compared to 414 million Napoleon III "bare head" five centimes (1853-57) and 90 million "laureate head" five centimes (1861-65). The Cérès head was replaced by the "Marianne" head designed by Daniel-Dupuis (struck 1898-1921). All the bronze five centimes pieces were demonetized in 1935.

Recorded mintage: 1,193,226.

Specification: 5 g, bronze, 25 mm diameter, plain edge, designed by Eugéne-André Oudiné (1810-1887).

Catalog reference: Gad-157a, F.118/11, KM 821.1.

Source:

• 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.
• Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.

Link to:

• 1872-A 5 centimes
• 1875-A centime
• 1875-K centime
• 1875-A 10 centimes
• 1875-A 5 francs
• 1875-K 5 francs
• 1875-A 20 francs
• 1876-A 5 centimes
• Coins and currency dated 1875
• return to French five centimes, 1795-2001