Smyrna times., 1899-04-19

A FIVE FRANC PIECE.
ONE THAT is THE HOPE OF EVERY
cREDULOUS FRENCHMAN.


The story of NapOleOn's Famous Coin
and the Immense Fortune That Is
Popularity Believed to Be Conceal
ed Within 1t.
II you happen to have in your posses.
sion the particular French coin known
as franc piece, you may unwitting-
ly be millionaire
Such, at least, is the belief shared by
hundreds upon thousands of credulous
frenchmen and Frenchwomen, manv
OF whom spend most of their spare time
destroying quantities of franc pieces
In the hope of realizing a fortune
DIR 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 existence of great
! wealth hidden in a franc piece. al
though many numismatists hold that
the fortune in question was long ago
discovered and appropriated by one of
the Rothschild family
1.-The story cf the strange 5 franc
fortune legend may be briefly told. A 3
franc piece. to begin with, is a silver
coin. and is worth about Is Cd Napo-
leon l 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
ne had inserted in one of the silver
pieces before it left the mint bank
note or order for 900, 600 of these same
francs-roughly. about 5000. 600
whether he really did this or not can
not say for certain. but the weight of
evidence would seem to show that if
was done
In the manuscript memoirs of the
Due de Feltie. Napoleons minister of
war 1t is expressly stated that the en-
peror lnclosed note on the Bank of
France. duly signed by the governors Of
that institution. in split 5 franc piece;
that the halves were then welded TO-
gether. 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 bag when he went to Boulogne and
distributed lavishly en- route. even drop
ping some of them ont of his carriage
windows In this way it was impossible
to keep track of the lucky coin
"Ihe news Of this odd lottery spread
far and wide. and the frame niece
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, 600 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 He must have found Napo
leon 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 the money
which enabled Napoleon III to reach
the imperial throne was found in the
lucky silver piece, which his mother,
Queen Hortense had wheedled out of
her brOther-in-law
1T was also common talk that Gen
eral BoulanSer had acquired the famous
coin until the discovery that his money
supplies came from the Duchess d Uzes
set that belief at rest
The most likely explanation as to
why the D fTaEc piece fails to turn up
Is that Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild,
a French mcmher Of the great Jewish
banking house. secured it This account
states that Baron de ROthschild, having
investigated the tradition and found
sufficient proof of its truth. deliberate
ly set to work to locate the note
"He quietly bought in and collected
every franc piece he could get, and
his agents were 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 that he had invented a
plan for welding them together again,
10 as to defy detection others maintain
hat he melted down the silver and
lold it to the government en- bloc. The
work was colossal, but in the end the
baron s sytem is said to have conquered.
HE found the note for 5000. 600
rancs. having spent nearly 1, 900, 900 to
'btaln 1t The order was duly presented
It the Bank of France and cashed by
hat institution
Plausible as this narration NAV
eem, the great mass of Frenchmen re-
use to credit it, and go on, year after
ear, splitting open their franc pieces
o look for Napoleon note 1t is GER
ainly a tantalizing thought that some
where in the world a check for $780,
90 is knocking about hidden in an or.
inary silver coin worth less than shil-
Ings- Pearson 8 Weekly