The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1897-12-29
FORTUNE HIDDEN IN A COIN.
Fiye-Franc Piece in Circulation which
Contains Million Dollar Note.

From the Detroit Free Press.
If you happen to have in your pos
session the particular French coin
known as 5-franc piece you may un-
Willingly he a millionaire. Such, at
least. is the belief shared by hundreds
upon thousands of credulous French
men and Frenchwomen. many of whom
spend most of their spare time de-
stroyng quantities of 5-franc pieces in
the hope of realizing a fortune.
DIR. Marco Leonardo NardeZ. he we'll
known numismatist. and one Of the
recognized authorities on coin lore
speaking of this curious condition of af-
fairs, said: 1T is quite true that half
France still believes in the existence
of great wealth hidden in a 5-franc
piece, although many numismatists
hold that the fortune in question was
long ago discovered and appropriated
by one of the RotEsChlld family.
The story of the strange 5-ffdhc for
tune legend may be briefly told. =
franc piece, to begin with is a silver
coin, and is worth about 81. Napoleon
H. was very anxious to make the coin
a popular one and with this end in
view he caused ii TO be circulated
everywhere throughout France that he
had inserted in one of the silver pieces,
before it left the mint, bank note or
order for 100000 of these same D.
francs--i e., for 81 200, 600.
Whether he really did this or not |
cannot say for certain, but the weight
of evidence would seem to show that 1t
was done. In the manuscript memoirs
of war, it is expressly stated that the
emperor inclosed note on the Bank
of France, duly signed by the gov
ernors of that institution, In q split
5-franc piece; that the halves were then
welded together partially reminted,
and thrown in heap of similar coins,
nFai na f,oiv
hands. These coins Napoleon took with
him in a bag when he went to Bou-
logne and distributed lavishly en- route
even dropping some of them out of his
carriage windows. In this way it was
impossible to keep track of the lucky
coin
THE news of this odd lottery spread
far and wide, and the 5-franc piece
leaped into immediate favor. From
that day to this mutilation of the coin
has been common in France. Switzer-
land. Belgium and elsewhere Every
year the Bank of France is requested
to make good scores of pieces split in
a vain search for the 5000 000-franc
bank note.
There are many stories dealing with
reputed finds of the fortune. Indeed,
when a man becomes suddenly rich in
France it is common to hear people
whisper: ITEMS! He must
have found Napoleon's famous coinn
Some assert that the emperor kept the
coin himself, but this hardly agrees
with Napoleons character. Still, it Is
a current theory that some of the
money which enabled Napoleon Ill to
reach the imperial throne was found in
the lucky silver piece which his mother
Queen Hortense, had wheedled out of
her brotherin-law 1t was also COM
mon talk that General Boulanger had
acquired the famous coin until the dis
coyery that his money supplies came
from the Duchesse d. Uzes set that be-
lief at rest.
The most likely explanation as to
why the 5-franc piece fails to turn up
is that Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild,
a French member of the great Jewish
banking house, secured it. This ac-
count states that Baron de Rothschild,
having investigated the tradition and
found sufficient proof of its truth. de-
liberately set to work to locate the
S1.000.000 note. He quietly bought in
and collected every 5-franc piece he
could get and his agents We're notified
to preserve and forward to Paris every
5-franc piece which reached them in
Europe Asia, Africa or America. In
his office the baron kept three trusty
men hard at work bisecting the coins.
Some say he had invented a plan for
welding them together again so as to
defy detection; others maintain that
he melted down the silver and sold it
10 the government en- bloc. The work
was colossal. but in the end the barons
system is said to have conquered. He
found the note for 5000. 900 francs. haV-
ing spent nearly 100000 francs to
obtain il. The order was duly pre-
scented at the Bank of France and, says
the tradition, cashed by that insttu-
ton.
Plausible as the narration may seem
the great mass of Frenehmen refuse to
credit it and go on. year after year,
splitting open their 5-franc pieces to
look for Napoleon's note. 1t is certain
~ "A tantaliZing thought that some
where in the world a check for 81 .000, 900
is knocking about, hidden in an ordi-
nary silver coin, worth barely 81. BY
possessing and opening that coin the
man worth just francs may, in a mo-
ment become "A millionaire"
DR. Marco Leonardo Nafdez admits
having opened a few 5-franc pieces
himself in search of the huge bank
note.