France 1843-B franc

from the Mountain Groan Collection

This issue, from the Rouen mint, is a somewhat better date of a type struck 1832-48. This design, by Domard, replaced the Tiolier bust type struck 1831 only. It was demonetized in 1869. A complete set of this type comprises 118 date and mintmark combinations, many very rare. The entire production run totaled about 18.1 million pieces. The production of French five franc pieces in the same period was 289 million. By this period, the government had closed all but five mints: Paris ("A"), Rouen ("B"), Strasbourg ("BB"), Bordeaux ("K") and Lille ("W").

Specification: 23 mm diameter, 5 grams, 0.900 fine silver. Designed by Joseph François Domard, 1792-1858.

Recorded Mintage: 130,057.

Catalog reference: F.210/95, KM 748.2.

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:

• 1843-A ¼ franc
• 1843-A ¼ franc
• 1843-B ¼ franc
• 1843-B ½ franc
• 1843-A franc
• 1843-W 2 francs
• 1843-W 5 francs
• 1843-W 20 francs
• 1844-B franc
• 1844-W franc
• Coins and currency dated 1843