1898 French 5-centimes

[villa66]

France readied itself for the new century by giving its coinage a complete makeover. I can imagine how fresh and beautiful this first-year 1898 5-centime must have seemed at the time. After nearly three decades of the Republic’s stodgy coppers, the appearance of these fresh and flowing beauties must have been an exhilarating thing.

They were designed by Jean-Batiste Daniel Dupuis, and he did live to see his little bronzes enter circulation, but only just barely. In 1899 he was shot dead by his mentally unwell wife, who then shot herself.

This 1898 5-centime piece was coined the year the phrase “J’Accuse…!” began its long journey through Western culture, but the edition of the newspaper “L’AURORE”—its cover price was “Cinq Centimes”—that headlined Zola’s famous polemic appeared very early in the year (13 January 1898).

It was so early in the year that 1898’s coins probably hadn’t yet gotten into wide circulation, if indeed they had gotten into circulation at all. So it was likely the 1897 5-centime pieces that would have been the newest coins actually available to purchase “L’AURORE” and its “J’Accuse” headline.

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