# French Coinage **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 26, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-coinage/354383 "2006-04-26T23:47:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Psycho\_Doughboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@Psycho\_Doughboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Psycho_Doughboy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-coinage/354383/1 "2006-04-26T23:47:04Z")
Recently I was shopping in a local shop, and got a handful of change. Looking the change over I noticed one odd coin. It was gold and about the size of a quarter. Upon closer examination I learned it was a 1978 20-centimes French coin. I am pretty sure this is worthless, but how much value ,if any, does it have? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-coinage/354383/2 "2006-04-27T00:56:29Z")
France has adopted the euro, and the franc and the centime no longer circulate, so the coin is not legal tender anywhere. However if you bring it to the Bank of France in Paris (or, I suspect, at regional offices in any major French city) they will give you value in euros for it. FFR 0.20 = EUR 0.03 (= USD 0.04 approx), so it’s not really worth the airfare to Paris to change it. ---
**Author:** ![Psycho\_Doughboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@Psycho\_Doughboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Psycho_Doughboy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-coinage/354383/3 "2006-04-27T01:19:24Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > France has adopted the euro, and the franc and the centime no longer circulate, so the coin is not legal tender anywhere. > > However if you bring it to the Bank of France in Paris (or, I suspect, at regional offices in any major French city) they will give you value in euros for it. > > FFR 0.20 = EUR 0.03 (= USD 0.04 approx), so it’s not really worth the airfare to Paris to change it. Thanks \UDS\ thats what I had figured…just wasnt too sure. Any creative uses for the coin? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-coinage/354383/4 "2006-04-27T01:25:28Z")
According to my catalog, it’s worth about $.10 in uncirculated condition; composition: aluminum-bronze. ---
**Author:** ![Psycho\_Doughboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@Psycho\_Doughboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Psycho_Doughboy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-coinage/354383/5 "2006-04-27T01:41:02Z")
So since mine has oviously been circulated…I would guess its around 5 cents at that. Is it possible for its value to go up after 10 or 20 years? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-coinage/354383/6 "2006-04-27T02:22:41Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > However if you bring it to the Bank of France in Paris (or, I suspect, at regional offices in any major French city) they will give you value in euros for it. > . Not even that. The central bank has stopped exchanging coins some months ago. I don’t think such a coin will be worth anything 20 years, or even 100 years down the road There are just too many of them. The only exception would be if this particular coin had been minted in exceptionnally low numbers during this particular year, but then, it would be already worth more than the value mentionned in this thread.