1958 Belgian "World's Fair" 50-franc

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Belgium’s 1958 “World’s Fair” 50-franc piece, struck in .835 silver. With a diameter of 30mm and a weight of 12.50g, this is the French language variety of this coin, which was also struck—as was customary with Belgian coinage—in a Flemish language variety as well.

Brussels’ 1958 World’s Fair was the first in Europe—and the first major such Fair—since the end of the war. (A smaller event had been held in Haiti in ’49.) The Brussels’ Fair opened 17 April 1958 and closed six months later, on 19 October. Some 41+ million visitors attended the Fair.

Admission to the Fair was 30 francs for adults and 20 francs for kids between the ages of 6 and 12. Soldiers and invalids also got in for 20 francs, all of which gives an idea of what this silver 50-franc coin could buy.

But what was it like, in 1958? One small but important clue can be found comparing two editions of the NEW HORIZONS World Guide a (big) pocket-sized travel guide published by Pan American World Airways….

In the 1956 edition: “HOW TO GET THERE…By Pan American Clipper, through-plane service from New York to Brussels, 14 hours (elapsed time).”

And the 1960 edition: “HOW TO GET THERE…By Pan American Jet Clipper, from New York to Brussels, 8 hours (elapsed time).”

Jets! The jet-age; the “jet-set.”

Also in the 1960 edition of Pan Am’s little book: “On the grounds of the 1958 World’s Fair, a short distance from the center of the city, the restaurant atop the Atomium is still open.”

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Ten years later in its 1970 edition, NEW HORIZONS let folks know they could still eat at ”the 340-foot-high Atomium restaurant built for the 1958 World’s Fair.”

And again, suggesting the buying power of this 50-franc piece, Pan Am advised folks that the train trip from National Airport into Brussels was 80 cents (40 francs), and that porters got tipped 10 francs a bag. But the 1958 50-franc was a silver coin that would be demonetized on 1 January 1972. By 1970, I’m guessing, it was hardly ever—if ever—seen in circulation.

At 10 francs a bag, it was this coin, I’ll bet, that the porters of 1970 were seeing a lot of….

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