France 20, 50, and 100 Francs 1871 to 1914

Hello Mel: Since your coin is in circulated condition, like the one in the picture, it will bring close to its value in gold bullion. If it were in well preserved or uncirculated condition (preferably in a holder to protect it), the coin would carry a premium above bullion value due to demand from coin collectors.

Gold bullion value is not too shabby these days. Mel correctly reports that his 20 franc coin contains 0.1867 troy ounces of gold bullion. Here are the stats:

20 FRANCS: 0.187 troy ounces gold
50 FRANCS: 0.467 ounces
100 FRANCS: 0.933 ounces

For gold at, say, $1400 US dollars per troy ounce, that's $262 in bullion value for 20 francs, $654 for 50 francs, and $1306 for 100 francs. The value of gold changes every day, so be sure to look it up on a web site such as kitco.com.

Suppose Mel was to sell his coin on eBay. It would probably fetch the gold bullion value assuming you had a good eBay feedback rating. Fees from eBay and PayPal would eat into your profit by about 5 percent. If you do not have a good eBay feedback rating, figure 25 percent additional fee to have someone sell it for you.

But, if Mel's coin was in fully uncirculated condition, a collector would be willing to pay more than bullion value. Here are some typical values for coins in good shape:

20 FRANCS
worn: bullion value
average circulated: bullion value
well preserved: bullion value + $20
fully uncirculated: bullion value + $100
Coins dated 1888A are rare and worth an additional premium of approximately $100.

50 FRANCS BEFORE 1901
worn: bullion value + $100
average circulated: bullion value + 300
well preserved: bullion value + $2000
fully uncirculated: bullion value + $3500
Coins dated 1900A are rare and worth an additional premium of $1000 in average circulated, $2000 in fully uncirculated condition, on top of the premiums listed above.

50 FRANCS AFTER 1900
worn: bullion value
average circulated: bullion value + $20
well preserved: bullion value + $200
fully uncirculated: bullion value + $1000

100 FRANCS BEFORE 1897
worn: bullion value + $100
average circulated: bullion value + 300
well preserved: bullion value + $2000
fully uncirculated: bullion value + $3500

100 FRANCS AFTER 1898
worn: bullion value
average circulated: bullion value
well preserved: bullion value + $20
fully uncirculated: bullion value + $500
Coins dated 1887A are rare, cataloging at $3000 in average circulated and $11000 in fully uncirculated.
Coins dated 1894A are very rare, they catalog for $5000 in average circulated condition and above $17000 in fully uncirculated condition.
Coins dated 1896A catalog at $9500 in fully uncirculated condition.
Coins dated 1914A are so rare that the catalogs don't even report a value for them.
cqLastNotify