French Gold Rooster

The French Gold Rooster, like the country it represents, has a rich and complicated history. As an investment and bullion coin, our Mint State Gold clients have found that the French Gold Rooster performs well in the international market place and has historically yielded tight spreads between buying and selling prices. For this reason, we believe the 20-franc French Gold coin is an excellent investment choice.

About that complicated history: The French Gold Rooster was produced for a limited mintage of 16 years. For the last seven years of the issue, coins dated 1907-1914 have been officially declared restrikes. The French Gold coin was restruck by the Paris Mint in a few later years. Later still, the French Mint of Monnaie de Paris minted golden francs for circulation on and off until the time France adopted the Euro in 2002.

The restrike was called la refrappe Pinay (the Pinay restrike). The difference between the original coins (1899-1906) and the restrikes is the edge: The original inscription read Dieu Protege la France (God Save France); for the restrike it read Liberte Egalite Fraternite (Liberty Equality Fraternity). Otherwise, there’s no difference between the coins. A feature of most of these restrike coins is that they can sometimes come in Brilliant Uncirculated condition (a hard find with 100+ year old coins).

The use of the Gallic Rooster as a symbol came to France from the Romans. In 58-52 BCE, the Romans conquered the region and named it Gallia (Gaul). This sounded similar to another Roman word, galus, meaning rooster. Because of the similarity between the two, Gaul would be confused with galus and so the association stuck.

In the 6^th century CE, the Germanic Franks would conquer the Roman province. In the 14^th century, coins were inscribed with Francorum Rex, (King of the Franks) in deference to the reign of Jean le Bon (1350-64). By 1795, Franc became the official name of the currency.

Mint State Gold by Stuppler has many of these beautiful coins in stock, dates will vary – all will be dated pre-1933.

More on the features of French Gold Rooster:

• The Rooster was minted from 1898 to 1914; production was halted with the start of World War 1
• French Gold coins are available in a variety of sizes ranging from 5-franc to 100-franc
• On the coin’s obverse is an image of the Marianne, a personification of liberty and reason and the national symbol of the French Republic; on the reverse is the rooster, the unofficial symbol of French pride and culture
• The French Gold coin is often seen as a great value in fractional gold bullion – premiums over their gold melt value are often available less per ounce than what you’d expect to pay for modern ¼ ounce American Gold Eagle or Canadian Gold Maple Leaf
• The Most Popular and in demand size is the 20 franc. The coin contains about 1/5 of an ounce of gold at typically lower premiums than modern gold fractional bullion. A great value.
• Reliefs on both sides of the Rooster were created by legendary French sculptor, medalist, and presidential portraitist of France, Jules-Clement Chaplain; the rooster is known to the French as le coq gaulois; his medals for Nicholas and Alexandria of Russia were said to be the finest ever struck

Because the French Gold Rooster symbolizes the French Revolution, it holds additional value for its historical significance. Among our collection of gold coins offered for sale from Mint State Gold by Stuppler, are coins from the many various regional French mints. Each French Gold coin will have special identifying marks, giving them additional investment and numismatic value. Since 1878, the Monnaie de Paris has been the sole French mint producing coins.

To learn more about the French Gold Rooster and see how it could fit into your investment portfolio, please contact us here and a highly experienced Mint State Gold representative will be happy to assist you with all your questions.

French Gold Rooster Coin Specifications

French Gold Angel Coin Specifications

Store: French Gold Coin

Please feel free to contact us to get more information about the French Gold Rooster.