Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 2/27/2009

Question
Hi,
I have several coins here that I know little about. One is a 1905 25 centimes, it has a women with some kind of branches around her head. In the left side in very small lettering it says L.Patey I think and around the outside edge it says Republique Francaise. Could you tell me a little about it please?

Answer
According to an older catalog of world coins that I have, there were 8 million of the French 25 centime piece made in 1905.  This was 1/4 French franc.  Today its face value is almost nothing because the French franc was devalued 1-10 after the second world war so this would be only 2.5 centimes today, which is less than 1 U.S. cent.  It had only very minor numismatic value, unless it was uncirculated.  You could try to get a better idea of numismatic value today by going to www.ebay.com and doing a search for 25 centime French and see if any come up for sale, Jim Lawniczak