⁣⁢Pure Silver and Pure Gold Gilding: "1 Franc Napoleon Year XIV"⁤⁣

On August 15, 1795 (28 Thermidor Year III), the Convention made the Franc the new monetary unit of the Republic. Indeed, while the Franc has existed since 1360, other currencies served as units of account for the Monarchy over the centuries. As First Consul, Napoleon Bonaparte completed the regulation of the monetary system and coin production with the law of March 28 – April 7, 1803 (7-17 Germinal Year XI), which established the so-called "Germinal" Franc, defined as a 5-gram Silver coin containing 4.5 grams of pure Silver. By creating the Germinal Franc, Bonaparte also imposed a new symbolism on French coins. On the obverse, he abandoned the allegorical figures of the early Republic in favor of his own portrait.

The first coins, struck during Year XI and early Year XII, bear the inscription "Bonaparte First Consul" on the obverse and "French Republic" on the reverse. The edge inscription "God Protects France" indicates the end of the revolutionary period, which had been marked by a de-Christianization policy. The "1 Franc Napoleon Year XIV" celebrated by your pure Silver and Gold strike testifies even more strongly to this shift between Revolution and Empire: while Napoleon is now designated as emperor on the coins, the mention of the Republic still appears on their reverse, as does their date of issue expressed in the revolutionary calendar. However, this calendar disappears very quickly as France returns to the Gregorian calendar in January 1806. The final stage of this symbolic shift takes place in 1809: the inscription "French Republic" disappears from the reverse of the coins in favor of the mention "French Empire," which would last until Napoleon's final fall in 1815.

Beyond these developments in its early years, the Germinal Franc created by Bonaparte would prove exceptionally stable. It would thus endure for over a century, forming France's benchmark monetary system.