FRANCE - LOUIS-NAPOLEON BONAPARTE - 5 FRANCS NARROW HEAD 1852 PARIS - NGC MS65

Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, President of the Second Republic (1848-1852), 5 francs, first type, 1852, struck at Paris.

Obverse: bare head of the Prince-President left, signed BARRE below. Legend LOUIS-NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, between two privy marks. Reverse: 5 / FRANCS / 1852 in three lines within a wreath of oak and laurel. Legend REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE. Mint letter A (Paris). Edge lettered in relief: DIEU PROTEGE LA FRANCE.

Narrow head. Mirror fields and lightly satiny devices. Minimal handling marks and micro-hairlines. Mint State.

Note: after the coup d’état of 2 December 1851, the Prince-President had his name placed on the coinage by decree of 3 January 1852, while the Republic still officially stood. This 5 francs thus pairs the portrait of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, engraved by Barre, with the legend REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE. Exactly one year after the coup, on 2 December 1852, the Empire was proclaimed, and the same portrait would become that of Napoleon III.