France 1854-A centime

CNG Lissner sale, part of lot 466

from the Mountain Groan Collection

This specimen was part of lot 466 in Classical Numismatic Group's sale of the Lissner Collection (Chicago, July 2014), where it sold for $786.50. The catalog description^[2] noted, "FRANCE, Empire. Lot of eight (8) CU and AR Denominations. Lot includes the following denominations: ...Second Empire. Napoléon III. 1852-1870. CU Centime à la tête nue. Paris mint; différents: dog’s head and hand. Jacques-Jean Barre, engraver general. CH.-Louis Dierickx, director. Dated 1854 A. In NGC encapsulation graded MS 62 RB. Nice faintly toned UNC with lots of red...." The regime of Napoleon III finally carried out plans developed during the 1840's to melt down and remint all the old copper circulating in France, some of it dating back to before the Revolution of 1789. Several branch mints were reopened for this purpose. The existing mints were Paris ("A"), Strasbourg ("BB") and Bordeaux ("K"); the reopened mints were Lille ("W"), Marseilles ("MA"), Rouen ("B") and Lyon ("D"). The one centime is the second rarest of the bronze denominations of Napoleon III, tho none are rare.

Specification: bronze, 1 g, 15 mm diameter, plain edge, designed by Jean-Jacques Barré (1793-1855). This specimen Ø15 mm, 1.00 g, 6h axis.

Recorded Mintage: 2,995,017^[1], a fairly common date but better than 1853-A or 1854-MA.

Catalog reference: F.102/9, Gad-86; KM 775.1.

Source:

• Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
• Gadoury, Victor, Monnaies Françaises, 1789-2019, 24me éd., Monaco: Éditions Victor Gadoury, 2019.
• ^[1]Prieur, Michel, and Laurent Schmitt, Le Franc 10: Les Monnaies, Paris: Éditions les Chevau-légers, 2014.
• ^[2]Teller, M. Louis, and Victor England, Jr., The Richard Lissner Collection, Lancaster, PA: Classical Numismatic Group, 2014.

Links to:

• 1853-A centime
• 1853-BB centime
• 1853-D centime
• 1853-MA centime
• 1854-BB 2 centimes
• 1854-D 2 centimes
• 1854-MA 2 centimes
• 1854-W 2 centimes
• 1854-A 5 centimes
• 1854 10 centimes, erection of a monument at the Bourse at Lille
• 1854-BB 5 centimes
• 1854-A 10 centimes, mint visit
• 1854-BB 5 centimes
• 1854-A 10 centimes
• 1854-W 10 centimes
• 1854-A 50 centimes
• 1854-A 2 francs
• 1854-A franc
• 1854-A silver 5 francs
• 1854-A 5 francs d'or
• 1854-A 10 francs
• 1854-A 20 francs
• 1855-D centime
• Coins and currency dated 1854