France 1916 50 Centimes -- Question

Woodwind

While cleaning out some old belongings at my parents house, I came across a French 1916 50 Centimes piece that I had completely forgotten about. Pretty neat find since I'm so fond of the design.

I just need to know what the value is since my Krause catalog is in storage. I'm sure it's a solid EF. Also if there are any die varieties to look for please let me know. I'm sure it's worth well under $4 and that there are no varieties but I thought I'd ask anyway. Thanks.

Sapyx

CV in my 2006 Krause is $1.25 in EF. No mintmarks or varieties noted for that year.

lordmarcovan

Grossly undervalued in Krause.

I too have an EF 1916 and a few other dates in F-VF, both in the 50-centime and the 1-franc pieces, and they're all like one-dollar to two-dollar coins, if the catalog is to be believed. Well, of course melt has crept up to catalog price and in many cases exceeded it, I'm sure.

There should soon be some adjustments in prices for these "Sower" coins, I would think. They're quite popular, at least amongst American collectors, some of whom refer to them as "French Walkers". Surely they're collected in their homeland.

SYRACUSIAN

You have a point Rob, but I think they fall into a similar category with the equally popular Swiss design. The homeland collectors are more interested in earlier tougher and often quite expensive dates and the US ones will pay top dollar for common dates in ultra gem condition, preferrably certified, as a nice type coin to own. Nevertheless, $1.25 sounds ridiculous, unless you're lucky enough to stumble across them in a dealer's "one dollar" box.

tbirde56

The 52.963 million mintage was the high for the series.
BV=.0671 of an ounce of silver.

Dentuck

For anything to have survived the Great War in EF condition is a wonder! A good portion of France was bombed or shot into oblivion, including 1.7 million French soldiers and citizens.

lordmarcovan

<< <i> You have a point Rob, but I think they fall into a similar category with the equally popular Swiss design. >>

Indeed. I have often marveled at the cheapness of old circulated Swiss francs.



<< <i> For anything to have survived the Great War in EF condition is a wonder! A good portion of France was bombed or shot into oblivion, including 1.7 million French soldiers and citizens. >>

Dentuck, I often think about the WW1 connection with those coins. I bought one at the Charlotte show this spring (a 2-franc piece) that had one side planed off and re-engraved as a U.S. doughboy's dogtag. I wish I still had a picture of it sometimes. Don (ajaan) bought it. I wonder if he still has it. It was one of those impulse buys at the show that just reached out and snagged me. I paid fifty bucks for it, which seemed awfully high, but then again, maybe not, for such a cool item. I had more fun with exonumia at that show than I did with coins.

lordmarcovan

Oh, wait... found it!

spoon

Hey, whoever is in current possesion of that piece, if you're looking at this and willing to sell, drop me a line!


I just wanted to get that in before running off to work. I'll have more to say on the OP later.. WWI type coins are my focus now

lordmarcovan

I sold it to the Shroomdude (ajaan).

Don- y'still got it, or did you throw it into the Bay of E?

ajaan

I still have it Rob and spoon. It is packed away in some box somewhere in the new house.

SYRACUSIAN

Definetely very cool. And now, with a nice Darkside pedigree building up.

spoon

Hey, Don, whenever you get around to unpacking that stuff mark me as a buyer if it's for sale!
(take your time though.. I know what it's like to move!)


On the OP coin, the truly absurd thing no one mentioned so far is that while it's listed at $1.25 in EF... it's listed at only $2.50 in UNC!! I suppose if someone has a stash of them, or just doesn't really care and goes by the book you'd get that price, but I think it's a tad unrealistic for UNC. That said, in EF it's definitely closer to the mark. There are a ton out there and everything Andy said the other day in his DPOTD winning post applies.

I have a couple 50c dated 1914 and those had a significantly lower mintage. But they can still be found in BU for roughly $8 to $15 (vs a $6 UNC value in Krause), depending on who's bidding. While I haven't actively watched 1916 dates, I imagine those would fare equally as well simply because most folks are just looking for the type and not the date.

And regarding die varieties, I'm not sure anyone seeks that out on these. Really, on the Darkside in general the only areas where die characteristics really count and can be sought after are some Mexican & Latin American issues and British for advanced collectors (and a few others). Otherwise it's just a curiosity.

lordmarcovan

I've just discovered that I've got five of these left, in one of my boxes. They're in front of me right now.



If anybody wants them as a single lot, PM me your price or offer me a single coin swap of some kind. (Prefer sell to swap this time around, but whatcha got?)

They are:

50 centimes (KM854, .835 fine/.0671 oz.)
1916 VF35
1917 XF45

1 franc (KM844.1, .835 fine/.1342 oz.)
1909 VF20
1916 F12
1918 VF35

Raw coins, my grades, of course. Cannot swear 100% that they are all uncleaned and original, but they look okay to me. Acceptable. These "sowers" are pretty coins, as we all know. I think the 1918 franc in this lot is the nicest looking.

(Edit: apologies for the spam. I'm in lean-and-hungry "sell" mode right now, and hey, at least this spam is topical here.)

Dentuck

"Topical Spam" ... is that a meat-based dermatological ointment?

lordmarcovan

Smoething like that.

It's much tastier that way, though. And good for the skin. Gives you that nice, glossy sheen.

Woodwind

<< <i>Hey, Don, whenever you get around to unpacking that stuff mark me as a buyer if it's for sale!
(take your time though.. I know what it's like to move!)


On the OP coin, the truly absurd thing no one mentioned so far is that while it's listed at $1.25 in EF... it's listed at only $2.50 in UNC!! I suppose if someone has a stash of them, or just doesn't really care and goes by the book you'd get that price, but I think it's a tad unrealistic for UNC. That said, in EF it's definitely closer to the mark. There are a ton out there and everything Andy said the other day in his DPOTD winning post applies.

I have a couple 50c dated 1914 and those had a significantly lower mintage. But they can still be found in BU for roughly $8 to $15 (vs a $6 UNC value in Krause), depending on who's bidding. While I haven't actively watched 1916 dates, I imagine those would fare equally as well simply because most folks are just looking for the type and not the date.

And regarding die varieties, I'm not sure anyone seeks that out on these. Really, on the Darkside in general the only areas where die characteristics really count and can be sought after are some Mexican & Latin American issues and British for advanced collectors (and a few others). Otherwise it's just a curiosity. >>



Thanks for the insight. It's nice to know that Darksiders don't seek out die varieties as much as US collectors.

Woodwind

<< <i>Oh, wait... found it!

>>



Now THAT is a very nice find. I had heard that something like that existed from WWI but I think that's the first picture I've seen of one.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Now THAT is a very nice find. I had heard that something like that existed from WWI but I think that's the first picture I've seen of one. >>

Guess it was worth the fifty bucks I spent, then. I knew I liked it, and I grabbed it, but I was plagued with self-doubt afterwards, and I think I sold it to Don at cost. (Not that I mind doing that for Don, anyway.)


<< <i>It's nice to know that Darksiders don't seek out die varieties as much as US collectors. >>

Because Darksiders have a much bigger sandbox to play in. Folks who limit themselves to US coins can only do so many date sets, type sets, and so on, before they run out of ideas and get bored, and then out come the microscopes.

"Look! This eagle's feather is .001 mm longer than the one on that other coin!"

"There are 262 reeds on the edge of this coin instead of 258!"

And so on. Sheesh.

spoon

<< <i>

<< <i>Now THAT is a very nice find. I had heard that something like that existed from WWI but I think that's the first picture I've seen of one. >>

Guess it was worth the fifty bucks I spent, then. I knew I liked it, and I grabbed it, but I was plagued with self-doubt afterwards, and I think I sold it to Don at cost. (Not that I mind doing that for Don, anyway.) >>

I've seen a handfull of "trench coinage" (as opposed to "love tokens", I guess) from the era. Most sell for $20-$40 from what I've seen, but I'll gladly add to the current tab if Don'll sell, just to keep the Darkside pedigree going (Though after that it'll probably stay in my collection for a long time )