1 Franc French Republic

The 1992 gold Franc was issued as part of a prestige collector series revisiting the foundational denomination of the French monetary system, just as that system was approaching its end — the Maastricht Treaty had been signed in February of that year, committing France to eventual replacement of the franc with the euro. The irony of striking gold collector versions of a coin the government had already voted to abolish was not lost on contemporary observers.