Five-franc silver coin of Napoleon III
1856 ・ silver ・ 19th century ・ Paris mint (Second Empire)
The five-franc silver coin of Napoleon III (1856). Under the Second Empire the emperor's profile in a laurel wreath sits on the silver — the same work, ever since Caesar, of a ruler cutting his own face into the money. But in this period gold from California and Australia flooded the world, and on the official scale of fifteen and a half to one silver was worth the more. People melted the five-franc silver down and sent it to India. As the bimetallism of Germinal tipped quietly toward gold, this silver coin disappeared from daily life.