The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1898-01-12
NAPOLEONIC LEG END.
FRENCHMEN BELIEVE HE HID A
FORTUNE IN a COIN.


Unpopular Currency Circulate Dreams
of Acquiring sudden Wealth.
If You happen to have In your pos
session the particular French coin
known as 5-franc piece yen may, un-
Willingly be millionaire
Such at least is the belief shared by
hundreds upon hundreds of credulous
Frenchmen and Frenchwomen, many
Of whom spend most of their spare time
destroying quantities of 5franc pieces
In the hope of realizing fortune.
DR.. Marco Leonardo Nardez. the
well-known numismatist, and one of
the recognized authorities on coin lore,
speaking of this curious condition of
affairs. said; 1t is quite true that half
France still believes In the eXistnce of
great wealth hidden In a 5-franc piece
although many numlsmatics hold that
the fortune In question was long ago
discovered and appropriated by one of
the Rothschilds family.
The story of the strange 5-franc for
tune legend may be briefly told. A 81
franc piece, to begin with, Is silver
coin, and is worth about 81. Napo-
leon |. was very anxious to make the
coin a popular one. and with this end
In view he caused it to be circulated
everywhere throughout France that he
had inserted in one of the silver
pieces, before 1t left the mint, bank
note or order for 900 600 OF these
same five frnncs-l. e., for 81 600 ,000.
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 the Due de Feltie. Napoleon minister
of war, 1t is expressly stated that the
emperor inclosed a note on the Bank
of France. duly signed by the COVER
nors of that institution. In n split B.
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 bag when he went to Bout
logne, and distributed laviHhly en-
route-even dropping some of them out
of his carriage windows In this way
II was impossible to keep track of the
lucky coin.
The news of this odd lottery spread
far and wide. and the b-frane piece
leaped into immediate favor From
that day to this mutilation of the
coin has been common In France.
Switzerland and Belgium and else
where. Every year the Bank of
France Is requested to make good
scores of pieces split in vain search
for the 5000 ,o00-frane bank note
There are many stories dealing with
reputed finds of the fortune Indeed,
when Il man becomes suddenly rich in
France, 1t Is common to hear people
whisper TlenA He must
have found Napoleon's famous coin,
Some assert that the emperor kept the
coin himself, but this hardly agrees
with Napoleon's character. Still IT.
Is a current theory that some OF tho
money which enabled Napoleon III to
reach the imperial throne was found
~ Nh' ih' NY 'iiN'i pi'''f NiiiNh mo
mother, Queen lIortense. had wheedled
out of her brother-inlaw 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 be-
lief at rest.
THE most likely explanation as to
why the 1ye-franc piece falls to turn
up Is that Baron Ferdinand de Roth
schlld, "A French member Of the great
Jewish banking house. secured It, This
account states that Baron de Roth
eehild having investigated the tradition
and found sufficient proof of It's truth,
deliberately set to work to locate tho
81 900 900 note. lie quietly bought
In and collected every five frame piece
he could get, and his agents were noti-
fed TO preserve and forward to Paris
every five franc piece which reached
them in Europe, Asia, Africa or Amer
lea In his Office the baron kept three
trusty men hard at wor6 blsecting the
coins Some say that he had invented
plan for welding them together again.
SO as to defwy detection, others main
tain that he melted down the silver and
sold 1t to the government en- bloc. The
work was colossal. but. In the end. the
baron's system Is said to have CON
guered. He found the note for 5000
600 francs. having spent nearly mill
ion to obtain IT. The order was duly
presented at the Bank OF France, and
says the tradition. eashed by that in
stitutIon
Plausible as the narration may seem
the great mass Of Frenchmen refuse to
credit IT, and go on, year after year,
splitting open their hye-franc pieces to
look for Napoleon's note. II is GER
talnly u tantalizing thought that some
where In the world a check for 81 600, =
900 Is knocking about, hidden In an
ordinary silver coin, worth barely ST..
BY possessing and opening that coin
the man worth Just five francs may in
a moment become a millionaire"
DR.. Marco Leonardo Nardez admits
having opened "A few fye-franc pieces
himself in search of the huge bank
note.
IL