Written by the Maison Or & Bijoux Le Havre team · updated
| Country | France |
|---|---|
| Metal | Gold, 900 thousandths |
| Legal weight | 3.2258 g |
| Pure gold content | 2.903 g |
| Diameter | 19 mm, except small module 1854-1855 (≈ 17 mm) |
| Years | 1850-1851 / 1854-1868 / 1878-1914 |
| Mints | A (Paris), BB (Strasbourg, Second Empire); Rooster without letter |
| Le Franc catalogue | F.504 to F.509 |
The gold 10 francs weighs 3.2258 g at 900 thousandths: half as much as the 20 francs, twice as much as Napoleon III's small gold 5 francs. It was born in 1850, in the years of the Californian gold rush, and disappeared in 1914. Four designs followed one another in sixty-five years; ordinary coins abound, while the rare dates can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Four effigies: Ceres with wheat ears (1850-1851 and 1878-1899), Napoleon III bare head (1854-1860) then laureate head (1862-1868), and finally Marianne in a Phrygian cap (1899-1914). Legend “RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE” for the republican types, “NAPOLEON III EMPEREUR” for the Empire.
For Ceres and Napoleon III: the inscription “10 FRANCS” with the date, mint letter underneath; all around runs “RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE” or “EMPIRE FRANÇAIS”. With the Rooster, the standing bird and “LIBERTÉ ÉGALITÉ FRATERNITÉ” replace this reverse, and the mint letter disappears.
Chronological order, with for each type the mintages that frame the series. At the top of the rarity scale stands 1855 BB. Then, in order of increasing mintage, come the Ceres of 1895, those of 1896 and 1850, the Rooster of 1909 and 1858 BB.
| Type | Year | Mint | Mintage | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceres, Second Republic | 1850 | A | 592,051 | First year of the 10 francs |
| Ceres, Second Republic | 1851 | A | about 3.11 million | Plentiful |
| Napoleon III bare head, small module | 1854 | A | 3,899,802 | Large A, small A, reeded edge |
| Napoleon III bare head, large module | 1855 | BB | about 32,150 | Major rarity |
| Napoleon III bare head, large module | 1857 | A | 14,498,136 | Most plentiful date |
| Napoleon III bare head, large module | 1858 | BB | 677,326 | Low mintage |
| Napoleon III bare head, large module | 1860 | A | 6,363,131 | Closed 6, open 6, bee |
| Napoleon III laureate head | 1862 | BB | 1,461,785 | Start of the laureate in Strasbourg |
| Napoleon III laureate head | 1866 | A | 3,719,748 | High mintage |
| Napoleon III laureate head | 1868 | BB | 1,225,954 | Last imperial date |
| Ceres, Third Republic | 1889 | A | 100 | Burnished flan (World Fair) |
| Ceres, Third Republic | 1895 | A | 213,999 | Rarest circulating Ceres |
| Ceres, Third Republic | 1896 | A | 585,010 | Uncommon |
| Rooster | 1899 | no letter | 698,503 | Matt flan known |
| Rooster | 1901 | no letter | 2,100,001 | Average mintage |
| Rooster | 1906 | no letter | 3,665,353 | Rooster record |
| Rooster | 1909 | no letter | 598,795 | Rarest Rooster |
| Rooster | 1914 | no letter | 3,047,863 | Halted by the war |
From BDOR's mintage tables for each type, within the typology of the Le Franc catalogue (F.504 to F.509). Differences noted: 1855 BB, 32,188 coins for BDOR and 32,146 for CoinVarieties; 1851, 3,115,226 and 3,112,378. Neither reference knows of a Rooster dated 1902, 1903, 1904 or 1913. Several varieties of the same year are counted together.
The Californian gold rush, from 1848 onwards, flooded Europe with yellow metal. In France, the 1803 system had until then included only 20 and 40 francs in gold. In 1850, the Second Republic created a more modest denomination, the 10 francs, better suited to everyday spending, with Louis Merley's Ceres.
The Second Empire turned the 10 francs into a mass-produced coin: the Paris and Strasbourg mints delivered more than 90 million coins in all, some sixty million of them for the 19 mm bare head alone. The Third Republic was more sparing with the Ceres, about 2.4 million coins from 1878 to 1899, then adopted Chaplain's Rooster, struck until 1914. The war ended the circulation of gold, and France would never again issue a circulating gold 10 francs. The pages on 19th-century French coins and on the Third Republic (in French) put these types in their period.
Who is on the coin? A bearded man means Napoleon III; a woman crowned with wheat ears, Ceres; a woman in a Phrygian cap, Marianne, with a rooster on the reverse.
Is the emperor wearing a laurel wreath? Without laurel, it is the bare head of 1854-1860, in the small module of about 17 mm (1854-1855) or in the large module of 19 mm, thinner for the same weight; both formats exist in 1855. With laurel, it is the laureate head of 1862-1868, a hybrid version of which, dated 1862, carries a smaller “10” on the reverse.
What is the date? For Ceres, it alone separates the Second Republic (1850-1851) from the Third (1878-1899). For the Rooster, a reduced version of the 20 francs Rooster, it runs from 1899 to 1914. No date, on the other hand, matches a gold 10 francs with the Genius, a type reserved for the 20, 50 and 100 francs.
A scale accurate to the hundredth is the most useful tool for a gold 10 francs. Even worn, a real coin loses only a few hundredths of its 3.22 g; a bigger shortfall, or a thickness that does not fit the 19 mm diameter, points to a coin that needs examining. Next comes the loupe, to judge the drawing of the reeding and the precision of the hair, then the guide to spotting a fake coin (in French).
Weighing also helps to sort a family batch. A gold 20 francs weighs 6.45 g, a Napoleon III gold 5 francs about 1.61 g: the three denominations cannot be confused on the pan. Finally, beware of small gilt tokens and medals that imitate the official types without a face value or date.
The 1855 BB, a large module struck in Strasbourg in about 32,000 examples, is the key date. Far behind it come the 1895 Ceres and the 1909 Rooster. The burnished flans of 1878 (30 coins) and 1889 (100 coins) were prepared for the Paris World Fairs and have nothing to do with circulation.
A few varieties can be read under a loupe: in 1854, plain edge with a large or small A, then reeded; in 1850, Ceres with “oreille relevée” (raised ear) or “oreille basse” (low ear); from 1863 to 1866, small and large BB on the laureate heads; in 1860, in Paris, several shapes of the 6 and a bee privy mark; in 1899 and 1900, Roosters on matt flans.
The reliefs of a gold 10 francs are fine, and a few years in circulation are enough for an Extremely Fine (SUP) example to drop to Very Fine (TTB). Points to watch: hair above the ear, goatee and laurel veins for Napoleon III; wheat ears and forehead locks for Ceres, where grains that can no longer be read indicate Fine (TB); hair over the forehead, rim of the cap, breast and wing of the rooster for Chaplain's type.
In such narrow fields, a scratch or a knock weighs on the assessment of condition. Holed, soldered coins or coins taken out of a mount have almost no collector interest left. Do not rub yours, and see why not to clean a coin as well as the grading guide (both in French).
The gold 10 francs was born just as Californian gold fever was also reaching Le Havre. Under the Second Republic, the gold ingot lottery (Loterie des lingots d'or), authorised by decree on 3 August 1850, paid for more than 3,300 French people to leave for California between 1851 and 1853. In July 1851, their transport was entrusted to a Le Havre shipowner, Louis Victor Marziou, and convoys sailed from the port: the tenth left Le Havre on 30 May 1852 and reached San Francisco on the following 20 November. No gold 10 francs, however, was struck in Normandy: for this type the catalogues know only Paris and Strasbourg, not the Rouen mint. To have yours read, ask for a free coin valuation.
2.903 g, for a coin of 3.2258 g at a fineness of 900 thousandths. That is exactly half the gold of a 20 francs.
Yes if it is a Rooster (1899-1914), struck in Paris without a letter. On a Ceres or a Napoleon III, the letter A or BB appears below the value: if it is missing, the coin deserves a closer look.
No. For this type, the catalogues record only the Paris (A) and Strasbourg (BB) mints.
In regular circulation, 1855 BB, with about 32,000 coins. The burnished flans of 1878 and 1889, at 30 and 100 examples, are special strikes to be set apart.