French Coins
France has been striking coins longer than most countries have existed. The Monnaie de Paris, founded in 864 AD, is the oldest continuously operating mint in the world, and the coins it has produced across twelve centuries trace the full arc of European history — revolutions and restorations, empires and republics, occupations and liberations, gold standards and fiat currencies.
The French coins in this collection span eras and denominations. Some carry the Semeuse — the barefoot sower who has walked across French money since 1897, scattering seeds into a headwind through two world wars, five republics, and the transition from silver to nickel. Others carry the faces of a republic that preferred allegory over portraiture, choosing figures and symbols over presidents and generals.
The franc itself was one of the longest-lived currencies in Europe, surviving from the Revolution of 1795 until February 17, 2002, when it was replaced by the euro across twelve countries in a single morning. Every French coin from before that date is now an artifact of a monetary system that no longer exists — carrying a name, a motto, and a denomination that belonged to a world that ended on a specific day.
