Written by the Maison Or & Bijoux Cannes team · updated
| Country | France |
|---|---|
| Metal | Gold at 900 thousandths |
| Weight | 1.6129 g |
| Fine gold | 1.4516 g |
| Diameter | Small module: about 14.4 mm; large bare-head module: 16.7 mm; laureate head: 17 mm |
| Struck | From 1854 to 1868, no coins in 1861 |
| Mints | A (Paris), BB (Strasbourg) |
| Pieces made | Nearly 46.7 million in all, about 18 million of them laureate heads |
| Catalogue numbers | Le Franc F.500 to F.502; KM 787 (bare head) and KM 803 (laureate head) |
Two portraits, three sizes, one weight: the gold 5 francs struck under Napoleon III from 1854 to 1868 can be classified in seconds once you know where to look. The bare head covers 1854 to 1860, first on a small and then on a large flan; the laureate head follows from 1862 to 1868. With 1.61 g of 900‰ gold, the coin weighs a quarter of a 20 francs of the same period.
Effigy of Napoleon III in profile, looking right, with the legend “NAPOLEON III EMPEREUR” in an arc. Two portraits follow one another: the bare head (1854-1860), then the head bound with laurel, a ribbon floating behind the nape (1862-1868). Signature BARRE at the base of the neck.
In the centre, “5 / FRANCS” and the date, inside a wreath made of two tied laurel branches. Circular legend “EMPIRE FRANÇAIS”. The mint mark, A (Paris) or BB (Strasbourg), sits under the knot between two privy marks.
The mintages below come from BDOR, in date order. The large bare head exceeds 24 million pieces, the laureate head 18 million. The thinnest dates are the 1855 large module (1,352 pieces), the 1858 BB (31,488) and, among laureate heads, the final Strasbourg run of 1868.
| Year | Mint | Mintage | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1854 | A | 3,562,208 | First format, 14.4 mm |
| 1855 | A | 937,732 | Last small module |
| 1855 | A | 1,352 | First large module, minute mintage |
| 1856 | A | 2,960,085 | Exists with 6 over 5 |
| 1857 | A | 3,479,167 | Paris only |
| 1858 | A | 2,982,985 | |
| 1858 | BB | 31,488 | First Strasbourg date |
| 1859 | A | 5,659,773 | Most plentiful year |
| 1859 | BB | 2,247,999 | |
| 1860 | A | 4,798,130 | 6 over 5 and bee varieties |
| 1860 | BB | 2,021,675 | Last BB bare head |
| 1862 | A | 1,100,515 | First laureate |
| 1862 | BB | 882,075 | First BB laureate |
| 1863 | A | 1,590,708 | |
| 1863 | BB | 1,103,564 | |
| 1864 | A | 2,239,561 | Highest laureate mintage |
| 1864 | BB | 899,564 | |
| 1865 | A | 824,020 | Lowest Paris laureate mintage |
| 1865 | BB | 927,585 | |
| 1866 | A | 1,948,610 | |
| 1866 | BB | 1,388,489 | |
| 1867 | A | 1,006,173 | |
| 1867 | BB | 1,504,435 | |
| 1868 | A | 1,864,491 | Type closes |
| 1868 | BB | 726,994 | Lowest laureate mintage |
Main source: BDOR. CGB gives 936,176 pieces for the 1855 small module, and Heritage 1,177,494 for 1862 A. Varieties, taken from Le Franc, have no separate line.
First question: does the portrait wear a laurel wreath? If so, the coin dates from 1862 to 1868 and measures 17 mm. If not, it is a bare head, struck between 1854 and 1860.
Second question, for the bare head: how big is it? Around 14.4 mm, it is the small module of 1854-1855; around 16.7 mm, the large module introduced in 1855. Both weigh exactly the same, the second simply being wider and thinner.
Third question: which letter appears under the knot on the reverse? A means Paris, BB Strasbourg. The small module exists only with A, and the BB mint struck the type only from 1858.
The decree of 12 January 1854 created a coin of about 14.4 mm, at first with a plain edge, then with a reeded one after a decree of July that year. The experiment was short-lived. In July 1855, 888,000 pieces were handed over for melting on the minister's decision, and the type lost legal tender status in 1859.
Out of some 4.5 million small modules struck, a sizeable share therefore vanished within months. The 1855 date, struck at under a million, is the scarcer of the two.
The laureate portrait, engraved by Albert-Désiré Barre, was introduced in 1862 after a blank year: no gold 5 francs is dated 1861. The diameter grows to 17 mm. The reverse, however, keeps its laurel wreath, whereas the laureate 20 francs Napoleon III received the arms of the Empire.
Fewer laureate heads were made than large bare heads, and Strasbourg plays a bigger part: the BB mint struck every year from 1862 to 1868 and outdid Paris in both 1865 and 1867.
A ten-power loupe and a lamp held at an angle are enough. Wear first attacks the hair near the ear and the cheek on the bare head, the laurel leaves on the laureate head, then on the reverse the veins of the branches and the knot. Most family coins grade between Fine and Very Fine; an Extremely Fine piece keeps some original brightness near the letters. Each grade is set out on the grading page (in French).
Light and small, the coin often ended up as jewellery. Solder on the edge, flattened reeding, a filled hole or a re-polished area all point to a past mount. To rule out a copy, combine weighing, measuring the diameter for the type and checking the reeding and signature; the guide to fake coins goes further. And never rub the surface, as the guide on cleaning explains (both in French).
The years of the laureate 5 francs are also those in which Cannes changed its face. Having become a health resort in the nineteenth century, the town filled with holiday residences built by English and Russian aristocrats, and the railway reached it in the spring of 1863, when its station opened on the section from Les Arcs. No record says which coins paid the winter visitors' bills; the small gold pieces of the Second Empire, bare head or laureate, are simply among what may turn up today in estates in the area. Their big brother is described on the page for the 20 francs Napoleon III.
Look at the portrait: a wreath of leaves in the hair and a ribbon at the nape mark the laureate head, struck from 1862 to 1868. Without a wreath, it is the bare head, dated 1854 to 1860.
Yes, every year from 1862 to 1868, under the letters BB. In 1865 and 1867 Strasbourg even produced more than Paris.
The weight is the same, 1.61 g; only the diameter changes, about 14.4 mm for the 1854-1855 small module against 16.7 mm for the large one. A numismatist can help you decide during a free appraisal.
The monetary convention of 23 December 1865 lists the gold 5 francs piece among the planned denominations. France nevertheless stopped striking it as early as 1868.