What are French silver francs worth? Semeuse, Hercule, Turin, 100 Francs
Many French households keep a few silver coins without quite knowing what they are. A Semeuse found in a drawer, an Hercule inherited from a grandfather, a hundred-franc commemorative bought at the post office in the nineties. These coins have one thing in common: they contain silver metal, and that silver has a value that can be calculated. Here is how to recognise the main French series, what determines their price, and what you can do with them depending on whether you want to buy them or part with yours. Recognising your coin France struck circulating silver coins until 1980, then commemoratives until the changeover to the euro. Four families cover almost everything that trades on the metal market today. To identify yours, two pieces of information are nearly always enough: the face value written on the coin, and the diameter measured with a ruler. The 5 Francs Semeuse Struck from 1959 to 1969, the 5 Francs Semeuse is the most widespread of the French silver coins. It weighs 12 grams at a fineness of 835 thousandths, with a diameter of 29 millimetres. Oscar Roty’s design, a sower walking into the wind, is the same one later carried over onto the French euro coins. It is often the first silver coin people come across, and its very wide circulation explains why it trades close to the value of its metal. One point must be checked before anything else, and it is the most common confusion on this coin: only the years from 1959 to 1969 contain silver. From 1970 until 2001 the Semeuse carried on being struck with exactly the same design, but in nickel. Those coins have no metal value at all. The design tells you nothing; the year settles it. The 10 and 50 Francs Hercule Augustin Dupré’s Hercules group, two figures flanking a central character, appears on two quite distinct coins. The 10 Francs Hercule, struck from 1964 to 1973, weighs 25 grams at 900 thousandths with a diameter of 37 millimetres. The 50 Francs Hercule, struck from 1974 to 1980, is markedly more imposing: 30 grams at the same fineness, for 41 millimetres. It is the largest circulating silver coin France produced in the twentieth century, and the one that comes up most often in searches. The two are told apart at a glance by size, and beyond doubt by face value. Here the year of issue holds fewer traps than on the Semeuse: the ten-franc coin changed design after 1973, and the fifty-franc coin was no longer struck after 1980. An Hercule is therefore an Hercule, and it contains silver. The 10 and 20 Francs Turin Designed by Pierre Turin and struck from 1929 to 1939, these two coins are recognisable by the head of a woman wearing a helmet of wheat ears. The 10 Francs Turin weighs 10 grams for 28 millimetres, the 20 Francs Turin weighs 20 grams for 35 millimetres. Both are struck at 680 thousandths, an appreciably poorer alloy than the Hercule. This is a point many people miss: at equal weight, a Turin contains noticeably less silver than a Semeuse or an Hercule, and therefore trades at a lower price. Here too the design outlived the metal, and it is worth knowing before rejoicing. Only the years from 1929 to 1939 are silver. The 10 Francs Turin was struck again after the war in cupronickel, from 1945 to 1947 and then from 1947 to 1949, with the same helmeted face and no metal value. The 100 Francs in silver After circulating silver coins were discontinued, the Monnaie de Paris carried on striking 100 Francs in silver from 1982 to 2001, first in the Panthéon type and then as a long series of commemoratives. They weigh 15 grams at 900 thousandths, for a diameter of 31 millimetres. These are the coins most often found in gift sets bought at the time, sometimes still in their blister packs. What makes a silver coin worth what it is worth The price of an ordinary silver coin is built on a simple basis: the quantity of silver it contains, multiplied by the rate of the moment. That quantity follows from two figures printed in the coin’s specifications, its gross weight and its fineness in thousandths. A 50 Francs Hercule of 30 grams at 900 thousandths contains far more metal than a 10 Francs Turin of 10 grams at 680 thousandths, and that gap alone explains most of the price difference between them. The silver rate itself moves continuously on international markets. You can follow it on our gold and silver price page. A coin that was worth a certain amount six months ago may be worth appreciably more or less today without the coin having changed at all: it is the metal that moved. Beyond the metal, two things adjust the price at the margin. First the state of preservation: a heavily worn, scratched or badly cleaned coin loses some of its appeal, without ever falling below the value of its silver. Then the year of issue: some years were struck in smaller numbers, which can attract additional interest from collectors. It is worth staying measured on this point. For the vast majority of Semeuse, Hercule and hundred-franc commemoratives, these coins were produced in very large numbers, and it really is the metal that sets the price. Believing otherwise is the most frequent source of disappointment among people having a family collection appraised. Buying French silver francs Silver francs are an accessible way into physical metal. A coin costs a few tens of euros depending on the format and the rate, which lets you start without committing a large sum and build up a holding you can release in small quantities. That is a flexibility a bar does not offer. Our silver range gathers these French coins alongside the international one-ounce formats. Displayed prices are recalculated continuously from the rate, so what you see on screen matches the market of the moment. A
