| Country | France |
|---|---|
| Ruler | Napoleon III (1852-70) |
| Face Value | 5 Francs |
| Year of issue | 1868 |
| Metal | Silver |
| Fineness | 900 |
| Catalogue # | KM# 799.2; Gadoury 739; Le Franc 331/13 |
| Weight, g. | 24,66 |
| Diameter, mm. | 37,15 |
| Our code | F598 |
| Die Axis | ↑↓ |
| Additional info | Strasbourg Mint |
Napoleon III (1852-70)
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France, Napoleon III, 5 Francs 1868 BB, Strasbourg, VF
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Authenticity Guaranteed
Actual Coin Pictured
Ships within 1 business day
Worldwide Shipping
Obverse: Laureate head of Napoleon III facing left, legend around.
Legend (French): NAPOLEON III EMPEREUR; BB; BARRE
Engraver: Désiré-Albert Barre
Reverse: Crowned and mantled arms divide denomination, date below
Legend (French): EMPIRE FRANÇAIS; 5 F.; 1868
Engraver: Désiré-Albert Barre
Edge (text in French): DIEU * PROTEGE * LA * FRANCE *****
The pictures provided are of the actual coin for sale.Guaranteed genuine.
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22 August 2025 (updated 21 July 2026):
Important Notice for USA Customers
Please note that, due to the new U.S. customs tariffs, the Post of Slovenia has temporarily suspended shipments to the United States. Unfortunately, this means we are unable to send orders to the USA at this time.
We will resume shipping to the USA as soon as the service becomes available again. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
However, we can still ship to the USA via DHL Express. Please be aware that additional U.S. customs duties or fees may apply, which are the responsibility of the buyer.
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History
There is a particular irony in the fact that this coin was struck in Strasbourg. Thirty-two years earlier, a young Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte had galloped into this same city calling on a garrison to join him in restoring the Bonapartist empire. The soldiers arrested him instead. He was exiled to the United States, laughed at across Europe, written off as a dreamer and a crank. In 1868, the mint of that same city was striking silver coins bearing his portrait as Emperor of the French.
On the obverse is the laureate portrait of Napoleon III – a face that had by 1868 become one of the most recognizable in Europe. Shown in profile, the laurel wreath a deliberate echo of Roman imperial coinage, the legend NAPOLEON III EMPEREUR completing the claim. It was a portrait of a man who had spent his entire life pursuing a destiny others found absurd, and who had – against every reasonable expectation – actually achieved it.
Napoleon III in 1868 was sixty years old, and the empire he had built from ambition and audacity was beginning to show its age. The authoritarian years of the 1850s had given way to a more liberal phase – press restrictions were lifted that very year, and within weeks 140 new newspapers appeared in Paris alone, many of them immediately critical of the regime. It was a characteristic Bonapartist paradox: an emperor liberalizing his own empire, attempting to modernize his authority precisely as it was being questioned. His great urban project, the transformation of Paris under Baron Haussmann, had produced the most magnificent capital in Europe – wide boulevards, grand parks, gleaming stations – but had also displaced hundreds of thousands of Parisians into the suburbs, creating a restless, politically volatile working class. The Mexico catastrophe, in which Napoleon had installed an Austrian archduke as emperor only to abandon him to a firing squad, had shocked French opinion. Bismarck was watching from Berlin with calculating patience.
The reverse carried the imperial eagle beneath the denomination, framed by a wreath – austere, authoritative, the heraldry of an empire that believed, still, in its own permanence.
Two years after this coin was minted, it was all over. Bismarck maneuvered France into a war it was not ready to fight. At Sedan in September 1870, the Emperor himself was captured – the first French head of state taken prisoner in battle since Francis I at Pavia in 1525. Two days later, the empire was dissolved and the Third Republic proclaimed in Paris.
The Strasbourg mint that struck this coin would fall into German hands six months later and remain there for forty-seven years.
Coin condition (grade) is described using the following scale, based on internationally recognised numismatic grading standards. Where a grade is separated by a slash (e.g. VF/XF), the obverse and reverse differ in condition – VF obverse, XF reverse in this example.
| Grade | Full name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| F | Fine | Noticeable, moderate to considerable wear across the design; major details, lettering and date remain clearly legible |
| F+ | Choice Fine | Slightly better than Fine |
| F‑VF | Fine to Very Fine | Between Fine and Very Fine |
| aVF | About Very Fine | Slightly below Very Fine |
| VF | Very Fine | Moderate wear on the higher points; major design elements and lettering remain sharp and well-defined |
| VF+ | Choice Very Fine | Slightly better than Very Fine |
| VF‑XF | Very Fine to Extremely Fine | Between Very Fine and Extremely Fine |
| aXF | About Extremely Fine | Slightly below Extremely Fine |
| XF | Extremely Fine | Light wear confined to the highest points of the design; most original detail and some mint lustre remain |
| XF+ | Choice Extremely Fine | Slightly better than Extremely Fine |
| XF‑UNC | Extremely Fine to Uncirculated | Between Extremely Fine and Uncirculated |
| aUNC | About Uncirculated | Slightly below Uncirculated |
| UNC | Uncirculated | Shows no evidence of circulation wear; retains its original mint lustre, which may appear naturally subdued with age |
| Proof | Proof | Struck specifically for collectors from specially prepared, polished dies on polished planchets, giving sharp detail and mirror-like fields. Refers to how the coin was made, not to its state of preservation |
| Prooflike (PL) | Prooflike | A coin from the ordinary circulation production that happens to show mirror-like fields, usually from early strikes with fresh dies – it looks similar to a Proof but was not specially struck for collectors |
Grading is inherently somewhat subjective. If you would like additional photos or have any question about a coin’s condition before ordering, please contact us – we’re happy to help.
