Expert: kulraj singh - 8/14/2009

Question
QUESTION: i found a coin that says (republique francaise) on the front and the letter 'c' in the word francaise has a little line coming out of it, with the picture of a woman with long hair tied back with like ribbons flowing down over left shoulder and some kind of vines or leafs on top of hair. the shawl or dress or shirt she has on looks like it has a rose or some kind of flower in the center and there is a word over right shoulder. on the back it has the number 25 with the word centimes under it and to the left of the 25 there is some kind of column or scroll with x's and lines on it like it is tied and an axe i think on top of it with some other point on the bottom and vines  or leaves also on the back. it is dated 1904. the edges are beveled and the coin is in good shape. would you know what it is where it is from and the value of it??

ANSWER: yes, thats from france. Now the currency of France is euro but earlier it was  Francs; and 100 centimes made one Franc. The coin is 25 centimes, and its value is 2$.

My assumptions:
1)coin is genuine
2)it is in extra fine condition



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: a 105 year old coin is only worth $2.00 bucks???? that is crazy!!!!! are you sure????

Answer
see
the value depends on the demand and the supply, and also the condition. The coin you mentioned had a mintage in  excess of 3 million, so its not a rare coin. Value also depends on the condition. If you have the coin in uncirculated condition(as good as new) then its value would be 12$. Face value of the coin is .25franc= 4 cents(approx). So the market value is about 50 times the face value. And loose coins anyway dont fetch too much money(they only have high value if they are some rare variety); but collections have high value. How would someone be able to collect if he has to pay 50-100$ for each single coin?