100 Francs Statue of Liberty

Issued by France to mark the centennial of the Statue of Liberty's dedication, this coin arrived the same year the restored monument was officially rededicated on October 28, 1986 — exactly one hundred years after the original ceremony. The French connection is more than symbolic: the statue itself was a Franco-American collaborative project, with Gustave Eiffel engineering the internal armature before his tower made him a household name.

The 100 Franc denomination placed this firmly in collector rather than circulation territory, and the Monnaie de Paris struck it in both proof and brilliant uncirculated finishes across a mintage split that still confuses incomplete registry sets.