Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-20
A FORTUNE HID IN A COIN
And Then Put in Circulation by Napoleon
the First.
Frenchmen Who Have Dreams of Ac.
qutring Sudden Wcalth-Said
to Have Been Found.
Written fol The Evening Star.

written Icl Inc Evening star.
II you happen to have in your posses
sion the particular French coin known
| as 5-franc piece you may, unwittingly,
be millionaire.
Such at least is the belief shared by
urdreds upon hundreds of credulous
Frenchmen and Frenchwomen, many of
whom spend most of their spare time
destroying quantities of 5-franc pieces in
the hope of realizing fortune.
DR.. Marco Leonardo Nardez, the we'll
known numismatist, and ore of the recog-
nized authorities coin lore. speaking
of this curious condition of affairs, said:
1T is quite true that half France still be-
lieves in the existence of great wealth
hidden in 5-franc piece, although many
numismatcs hold that the fortune in ques-
ton was long ago discovered ard appro-
rrited by one Of the Rothschilds family.
THE story of the strange 5-franc for
tune legend may be briefly told. A D.
franc piece. TO begin with, is silver coin,
and is worth about 81. Napoleon 1 was
very anxious to make the coin popular
one. and with this end in view he caused
1t to be circulated everywhere throughout
France that he had inserted in one Of the
silver pieces before * left the mint a bar X
note or order for 1,OOO.OOO of these same
five francs-i. e.. for $1.OOO,OOO. Whether
he really did this or not / cannot say for
certain, but the weight of evidence would
seem to show that it was done In the
manuscript memoirs of the Due de Feltie
Napoleon minister of war, it is expressly
stated that the emperor Enclosed a note
on the Bank of France, duly signed by the
governors of that institution, in a split D.
franc piece; that the halves were then
welded together. partially reminted, and
thrown in heap of similar coins which
the emperor mixed with his own hands
These coins Napoleon took with him in a
I ha ont RI ,l;,,
tributed lSvishly 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
| ard wide. and the 5-franc piece leaped into
immediate favor. From that day to this
mutilation of the coin has been common
in France Switzerland and Belgium and
elsewhere. Every year the Bank of
France is requested to make good scores
of pieces split in a vain search for the
.Oco,OOO-franc bank note.
Said to Have Found 1t.
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 coin.' Some assert that the empe-
ror kept the coin himself, but this hardly
agrees with Napoleon's character Still ii
is a current theory that some of the money
which enabled Napoleon III to reach the
imperial throne was found in the lucky
silver piece, which his mother, Queen Hor-
| tense, had wheedled out of her brother-in-
| law. 1t was also common talk that Gen
Boulanger had acquired the famous coin
until the discovery that his money supplies
came from the Duchesse dukes set that
belief al rest.
THE most likely explanation as to why
the fve-franc piece fails to turn I'D is that
Ferdinand
member of the great Jewish banking house
secured ii. This account states that Baron
de Rotbschid having investigated the ira
dition and found sufficient proof of its
truth deliberately set to work to locate the
81 100000 note. He quietly bought in and
collected every fiye-franc piece he could
get, and his agents were notified to pre-
serve and forward to Paris every five-franc
piece which reached them in Europe Asia
Africa or America In his Office the baron
Kept three trusty men hard at work bisect-
ing the coins Some say that he had in
vented plan for welding them together
again, so as to defy detection; others MAIN
tain that he melted down the silver and
| sold II to the government en- bloc. The
work was colossal; but, in the end the
baron's system Is said to have conquered.
lie found the note for 800, 900 francs hay-
ing spent nearly million to obtain it. The
order was duly presented at the Bank of
france, ana. says the tradition, cashed by
that institution.
Plausible as the narration may seem
the great mass of Frenchmen refuse To
credit it, and go on. year after year. split
ting open ,neir five-franc pieces to look for
Napoleon's note. 1t is certainly a tantaliz-
ing thought that somewhere in the world
check for $1.0OO,0OO is knocking about
hidden in an ordinary silver coin worth
barely 81. By possessing and opening that
coin the man worth just five francs may in
q moment become millionaire"
DIR. Marco Leonardo Nardez admits hav-
ing opened a few ..ve-franc pieces himself
/ in search of the huge bank note