Ancient French coins

French coins today are monetary units that have a high degree of protection against forgery. At the moment they are called Euro, but they are somewhat faceless. But the ancient banknotes were different and a memorable appearance, and a variety of names. We'll talk about them.

The first French coins

The French coin owes its appearance to the Roman one, which found itself in the country in about V-VI centuries. At this time, an intensive influx of banknotes began in France. For the first of them, pure gold was used, but after some time it became clear that the precious metal without any impurities quickly becomes soft and wears off. Therefore, in the issued coins began to add silver, and in some cases - copper, thanks to which the money signs became stronger and more reliable.

Medieval French coins

The beginning of the Hundred Years War was marked by the appearance of the first generally accepted state monetary unit - the franc. The French gold coin had the image of the king and the inscription in Latin FRANCORUM REX (which meant "king of the francs"). The king on this coin was portrayed riding a horse, because of what she was called by the people as a "horse" franc. But when the image was changed to a king standing in full growth, the coin became a "walking franc".

Frank from gold was released in France only until the middle of the fifteenth century, and when Louis XI came to power, the named coin replaced the golden ecu. Already in 1575-1586 the silver franc was minted. Its weight was 14.188 g, and the silver from which it was produced was 833 samples.

Such coins were in use until 1642. Issue of bank notes at that time was controlled by French cities. At the same time, aristocrats decided to issue their own coins. And so in English-controlled territory began to appear Anglo-Gallic francs.

Gold coins of France XVII-XVIII centuries.

French coins in the XVII century began to produce gold of high quality. They were called louis. This ancient French coin first appeared during the reign of King Louis XIII.

Luidor became the main money sign. There were a lot of these banknotes, and all of them differed in size and weight. Most of them weighed 4-6 g. But there was also a record gold coin that weighed about 10 g. The obverse of the luidor was decorated with the image of the king.

They were minted until the very beginning of the Great French Revolution and until the moment when the franc was the main coin for the calculation.

When Napoleon I came to power, Napoleon appeared. Its nominal value was 20 francs. The Golden Napoleon is divided among collectors into such types:

• Emperor Napoleon;
• First consul Napoleon;
• Coins "with a wreath";
• Coins "without a wreath";
• With the year of issue, denoted by figures;
• With the year of coinage, denoted by letters.

Even after the overthrow of the emperor and restored the monarchy, the manufacture of the Napoleon continued. The obverse of the gold coins depicted royal profiles, and on the reverse flaunted the royal coat of arms.

The last of the monarchs, at which napoleondors were minted, was King Louis Philip I.

During the prosperity of the II Republic, a gold coin of 20 francs was very popular. And they called her "Angel". At the end of the 18th century, it was released in the first edition to replace the old louis- ter. On the obverse there was an angel depicting the French Constitution.

At the same time, the first 20-franc gold coin was coined. It depicted the goddess of fertility and the harvest of Ceres. This money symbol was issued only in three editions.

The cost of gold French coins

For collectors, ancient gold coins are very valuable. They are struck from precious metal of high quality and can cost tens of thousands of rubles, and some of them - hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And the main component of the value of old gold and silver French coins among numismatists is how much they were produced and in what condition they are.