Napoleon III small silver coins: 20 centimes to 2 francs

Bare head or laureate head: the portrait tells you the fineness

These coins were struck in two silver standards, and the portrait tells you which. Bare head: 900 parts per thousand, like the 5-franc écus. Laureate head: 835. There is no hallmark or fineness figure on the coin; the change of design was there precisely to keep the two series apart.

The reverse confirms it. Bare heads carry their denomination inside a laurel wreath. Laureate 20 and 50 centimes put it beneath an imperial crown, while the 1 and 2 francs show an eagle shield on a mantle. If a coin is too worn to judge the profile, look at the reverse first.

The switch came in two stages. The law of 25 May 1864 lowered the 20 and 50 centimes to 835‰, so every laureate head of those two coins, from 1864 on, is at the new standard. The 1 and 2 francs followed after the Latin Monetary Union convention, signed on 23 December 1865 with Belgium, Italy and Switzerland: their laureate head only appears in 1866. On a 2 francs the difference comes to 9 g of fine silver against 8.35 g, for the same 10 g coin.

The lower standard had a purpose: a coin holding slightly less metal than its face amount no longer gets melted down or carried abroad. The older, silver-richer bare heads were withdrawn at the end of the 1860s.

Mints, privy marks and dates to look out for

The mint mark is on the reverse: below the bow of the wreath on the bare head, below the year on the laureate head. Paris (A) and Strasbourg (BB) struck in almost every year. Lyon (D) appears only in 1856, on all four coins. Bordeaux (K) struck laureate heads only, from 1864 to 1867. The mints guide covers all these letters.

Unlike the gold coins, the two small privy marks sit on the obverse, either side of the legend. They change with the chief engraver and with the director of each mint: dog's head, hand, anchor, a lion for Lyon, a bee or trefoil cross for Strasbourg. In 1855 and 1856 several combinations exist for the same date.

Three groups of dates deserve attention. First the bare-head 2 francs: 894 pieces in 1859, 1,288 in 1858, under 50,000 in 1853. Then the last bare heads of 1862 and 1863, struck in small numbers and partly melted after the reform. Finally a few isolated pairings, such as the 20 centimes 1856 BB, the 2 francs 1856 D or the 2 francs 1866 K. The 1860 over 1850 varieties, with the 6 re-engraved over a 5, exist for the 20 centimes, 50 centimes and 1 franc, at Paris and Strasbourg.

Not to be confused with

Latin Monetary Union coins. Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and later Greece struck 50 centimes, 1 and 2 francs (or lire, or drachmai) to the same weight and diameter. They passed in France on equal terms with French coins and turn up in the same batches. Read the legend: a portrait of Leopold II or Victor Emmanuel II is not Napoleon III.

Patterns and “large heads”. In 1853, pattern pieces with a bigger head were struck for the 20 centimes, 50 centimes and 1 franc; they are catalogued separately (F.147, F.186, F.213). Other plain-edge patterns, and gold proofs dated 1854, only appear in specialist sales.

Counterfeits. Contemporary forgeries of the laureate 2 francs are reported. A forgery usually gives itself away by being too light, a dull ring, soft relief or uneven reeding. Check the weight to a hundredth of a gram (10 g for a 2 francs, 5 g for a 1 franc, slightly less after wear) and the diameter. A scarce date, above all a 2 francs of 1858 or 1859, also calls for a look at the last digit under a loupe to rule out an altered date. The guide to counterfeit coins sets out these checks.

Grading these small coins

These coins circulated hard, often until the First World War. Most are now in Fine to Very Fine condition, and wear shows quickly on such a small module.

On the obverse, look at the hair above the ear and the goatee. On the bare head the locks merge first into a smooth surface; on the laureate head the veins of the leaves go before the wreath blends into the hair. The ribbon on the nape stays legible longer.

On the reverse, fine details give way before the lettering: veins of the laurel leaves on the bare heads, pearls and crossbars of the imperial crown on the 20 and 50 centimes, the eagle's feathers and the links of the collar on the 1 and 2 francs. A coin that still grades Extremely Fine keeps those links distinct.

On the 20 centimes, which weighs a single gram, the mint mark and privy marks can fade before the rest: read them with a ×10 loupe before you sort the coin. A grey or golden toning is normal; bright white silver on a worn coin almost always means cleaning, which leaves fine scratches. See the guides to grading and cleaning, and the silver coins page.