France 1943 franc

from the Mountain Groan Collection

This specimen is a common date of a type struck at the Paris mint 1942-44 under the French Vichy régime. This design is also called the Francisque type. When the Morlon type was resumed in 1944, after the Liberation, it was struck in aluminum. The new franc which replaced it in 1960 with the inauguration of the Fifth Republic was worth one hundred of these francs. This type was demonetized in 2005. Heavy (1.6 g) and light (1.3 g) varieties exist, with the heavy being rare.

Recorded mintage: 205,563,897.

Specification: 1.3 or 1.6 g, aluminum, 23 mm diameter, designed by Lucien Bazor (1889-1974).

Catalog reference: F.222/3 (heavy) or F.223/3 (light, shown here), KM 902.1.

Source:

• 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.

Link to:

• 1942 franc
• 1943 10 centimes
• 1943-B 50 centimes
• 1943 2 francs, aluminum, Vichy
• 1944-C franc
• Coins and currency dated 1943