Current Spot Prices:
4:55 PM Thu. Mar 28, 2024 (USMT)
Gold
$2,235.42 $39.32
Silver
$25.03 $0.37
$2,493.68

French 100 Franc
Napoleon III "Laurel"
Grade Range: AU/AU+ (Almost Uncirculated)
Minted: 1861-1870
Actual Gold Content: .9335 oz.

For our January Special Offer, we're pleased to make available the deepest and most attractively priced group of “Laurel” design French Napoleon III 100 Francs we've ever handled in our fifty year company history.  The "Laurel" 100 Franc holds rank among the most elusive and sought after of all historical European coins, with a total mintage of just 97,225 pieces from 1861-1870 (68,398 bearing the ‘A’ mint mark (Paris) and 28,827 bearing the ‘BB’ mint mark (Strasbourg)).  As our clients know, larger historic coins (at or near one troy ounce) are comparatively scarce to begin with, with only a handful of options from the historical era - small coinage carried greater utility in everyday commerce and was therefore produced in far greater numbers.  But the "Laurels" are even scarce within the sub category of already scarce 'large' historic coins.  With less than 100,000 total coins struck, they are scarcer than their 100 Franc counterparts (the "Bare Head" Napoleon, ~350,000 coins minted, and Angel, ~270,000 coins minted), far scarcer than the Mexico 50 Pesos (~5 million coins minted) and are utterly dwarfed by the total number of US $20 gold pieces struck from 1850-1932.  

With such scarcity, we've only been able to cobble together a handful of pieces over the years, and fully expect these coins to be exceedingly expensive to us whenever they do surface.  So when we received this offer earlier this week from our contacts in Europe, we were literally floored by both the depth and the price.  At 200 coins, this is the largest single position of these coins we’ve ever heard of hitting the market, and certainly ever seen ourselves.  And by purchasing the whole lot, we were able to drive down the acquisition premium to the point that we can price these competitively on a per ounce basis with far more common European coinage like Sovereigns and Guilders, and $50+ less per ounce than common U.S. $20 St. Gaudens and Liberties.  Going a step further, era equivalent pieces - like Civil War Era $20 Liberties for example - would cost hundreds of dollars more per ounce to acquire than the 100 francs offered here.  

Additional quantity discounts are offered for purchases of 10+ and 25+ coins.  Free Shipping on orders over $10,000.  Orders strictly limited to available inventory.  First-come, first-served.

Historical Note:  Napoleon III was the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and emperor of France from 1852 to 1870.  He was the elected president of the The Second Republic of France in 1848, a republic that ultimately lasted just three years. When it became evident the French Parliament would block his re-election bid in 1852, he promptly organized a coup in December 1851, seized power, re-wrote the constitution and declared himself emperor of France.  Just like that, the Second Republic of France had ended.  In an interesting historical side note, Emperor Napoleon III claimed the throne of the Second Empire of France on December 2nd 1852, 48 years to the day after his Uncle, Napoleon I was crowned.

Napoleon III strove to restore the glory of France to the lofty stature attained under his famous uncle, but his rule was undermined by a succession of political blunders including rifts with the Vatican over papal land and French industry over his free trade policy with England. In the Franco Prussian War of 1870, in part due to the disunity at home, he met defeat at the hands of the Prussians near Sedan. Within days, the weakened Napoleon III was unseated by a new revolution and he left France for England where he died in 1873, failing to restore the glory of Napoleonic France.