1907 FRENCH 20 FRANCS ROOSTER GOLD COIN NO RESERVE US $207.00 (5 Bids) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 18:25:51 PST Add to watch list

2005 ~YEAR of ROOSTER~1/4 OZ GOLD COIN~COLORIZED~ $9.99 US $315.00 (11 Bids) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 19:14:45 PST Add to watch list

World Old Gold Coin Lot 1866 France French 20 Francs NR US $113.49 (8 Bids) End Date: Saturday Mar-13-2010 16:55:34 PST Add to watch list

~ Rare .9999 GOLD Australian 2005 ROOSTER 1/20 oz Coin US $63.89 (7 Bids) End Date: Saturday Mar-13-2010 21:57:36 PST Add to watch list

1859 20 Francs Napoleon III Gold France NR! Nice coin! US $13.00 (3 Bids) End Date: Sunday Mar-14-2010 18:26:22 PDT Add to watch list

FRANCE: 1898-A 20 Francs ——— ART IN GOLD US $325.00 End Date: Tuesday Mar-30-2010 18:59:50 PDT Add to watch list

FRANCE: 1896-A 20 Francs — ESPECIALLY AWESOME LOOKING! US $375.00 End Date: Thursday Apr-08-2010 0:12:22 PDT Add to watch list

Like most other European countries, France was also influenced by the production of various luxury coins that had a more superior finish and as such were mainly distributed among the wealthy class and not used as common currency. These ‘Monnaies de luxues’ coins as they were known were only specimen coins and not used for circulation. These coins were produced with very high quality finishes that made them better than some of the other proofs produced by other countries.

The first Franc Gold coin was struck in 1360 and depicted King John clad in armor astride a horse because of which it came to be known as franc à cheval. The franc was then dropped as the main currency of France before being reintroduced again during the 1795 revolution. During the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, there were many Gold French Coins that were produced which became popular with collectors. These coins bore the symbol of the Bonaparte Army along with the words ‘EMPIRE FRANCAIS’ imprinted along with the date of minting. These coins had different denominations of ₣5, ₣ 10, ₣ 20, ₣ 40, ₣ 50 and ₣ 100 with the ₣ 100 gold coins having a gold content of 0.9355. The percentage of gold purity in these coins ranged from 90.0% for the ₣5 to 92.0% purity for the ₣100 Monnaies de Luxe coins. Coins minted from 1899 to 1914 bore the dynamic image of the Gallic Rooster or Coq Gaulois, considered to be one of the French national symbols since the Middle Ages.

There are many French coins that are considered to be collector’s items even today on account of their rarity with the only exception being the French ₣20 “Roosters” which was widely available. The Gallic Rooster played an important role during the French Revolution and endured an image of confidence and pugnacity. This Rooster temporarily replaced the fleur-de-lis until Napoleon III reinstated it in the mid 1800’s. Other gold coins such as the Golden Angel of 1876 or the 1896 ₣20 coins are much scarcer.