Le Louis d'Or moderne, Symbole Durable de la France

par Alexandre Bergeron. Traduction Francaise a venir!

If the Gold Sovereign is the quintessential British gold coin, the French equivalent is the Louis d'Or and its more modern counterpart is the 20 franc gold coin.

In France, before the revolution, the primary gold coin was the Louis d'Or which was created under King Louis XIII as part of a large money reform in the 17th century. This replaced the previous gold coin standard of the Ecu d'Or. The new gold coin became the backbone of royal coinage through the reigns of many of France's kings from Louis XIII to Louis XVI until the French Revolution, and the adoption of the Franc as France's currency. Gold pieces in the modern franc system that came after continued to be called, although colloquially, Louis d'Or. This article will focus on these modern examples as they are some of the more common French gold coins you are likely to find in your collection.

Following the Franc monetary reform of 1803, Napoleon I would introduce a new gold coin standard: The 20 Francs gold coin which would permeate French gold currency all the way through the early 20th century. These coins were struck of 90% gold, weighed 6.45g and were uniformly 21mm in diameter. The first 20 francs issued under Napoleon I's rule were struck with a variety of bust portrait styles from 1802 to the final years of his reign.

After the end of Napoleon's rule, rulers of the Second Republic like Louis XVIII, Charles X and Louis-Philippe I would continue to mint 20 franc gold coins with their own portraits. Some of these new gold coins sported some iconic and recognizable designs such as the "Genie" featuring a winged genius engraving the constitution, and the "Ceres" featuring the head of Ceres, the Roman Goddess of Agriculture.

In 1852, new 20 franc gold coins with the portrait of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, who was elected president in 1848 were minted. Later in the same year, he would declare himself emperor as Napoleon III, making another stage of political change that would reflect directly in the coinage. Under the

new emperor, the 20 franc gold coin would return to imperial portraits with various designs. Despite the many changes, these 20 franc gold coins never departed from the 6.45g 90% gold standard. These coins would circulate widely, not only in France but through many countries, especially after the creation of the Latin Monetary Union in the mid 1860's,  which would harmonize gold and silver coin standards among its members.

In 1870, the Second Empire fell and sparked the start of a Third French Republic . New republican designs would surface, the most famous and recognized issue, the Rooster (Coq) would be introduced in the late 1890's and feature the iconic Gallic rooster on its reverse, an enduring symbol of France. The production of those gold coins would end at the outbreak of the first World War, ceasing more than a century of near-continuous 20 franc gold coinage.

Almost all the original Louis d’Or issues from 1640 to the early 1790s in undamaged, not overly worn condition have collector values that exceed their gold value.  This is because many were melted during the reign of Napoleon or later.  We are always looking for these to satisfy the demands of our clients.  The issues of the 20 Franc gold often called Louis d’Ors (and the other denominations of 10, 40, 50 & 100 Francs) with very few exceptions are almost always purchased and sold based on their gold values.  People are often surprised that coins 200 years old could be worth just the commodity value of the gold.  There are a few reasons for this.  Firstly as we write this gold prices are very high, and collector prices and demand have not risen at the same rate as the metal values.  Secondly, and most importantly, despite their age they are not rare.  Due to wars, and economic problems, it was culturally popular for families to keep a quantity of these little coins in case they needed them as money.  Of the millions that were produced each year in the 1800’s and early 1900’s, most were saved.  

Did you discover some Louis d’Or or 20 Franc gold in an inheritance, or coin collection?  Feel free to contact us if you need more information, or would like to sell your group. Sources: 1. Selections from the Numismatist, Modern Foreign Currency, Whitman Publishing Company 2. Numista