New Franc 50 Centimes - why so few years minted?

Here's a question for those more knowledgeable about coins of the New Franc:

Why was the 50 Centime coin minted so few years? After all, the USA has been minting Half-Dollars from the time of the introduction of the New Franc. Similarly, Germany, the United Kingdom (along with Australia, New Zealand, Canada etc), South Africa, the various Latin American countries etc, in their respective currencies. Why not France?

Although I notice (from a cursory inspection of the Catalogue) Italy and Spain also stopped minting their equivalents after about the early 1960s. Could this have something to do with it?

The New Franc 50cts was succeeded by the equivalent 1/2fr, which remained in use up to the euro conversion. Why they changed the denomination from 50cts to 1/2fr is an interesting question, which I don't have an answer to.
Spanish 50cts equally remained in production up to the euro conversion, although they didn't circulate any more for the last years of the peseta time because they lost value, if I recollect well. Italy didn't have any centesimi denominations after WWII.

So either you failed your homework, or I didn't quite understand your question
Anyway, when looking to answer your question, I did find something interesting, when it comes to denominations missing from the range.

Roughly, there are two popular schemes for fractioning currency:

• "1-2-5" with denominations 0.01-0.02-0.05, 0.10-0.20-0.50, 1.00-2.00-5.00
  
• "half-half" with denominations 0.01-0.025-0.05, 0.10-0.25-0.50, 1.00-2.50-5.00
  

In the practice of currencies following the "half-half" scheme, there is often a 'popularity' competition between quarters and halves - the two won't always coexist peacefully.

• The US is an obvious case, where quarters and halves exist, but halves are by far less commonly found in everyday change.
  
• The Netherlands had all denominations for the "half-half pattern" in place, but after WWII, the 0.025 and 0.50 denominations were dropped.
  
• The Luxembourg Franc has a steady 0.25 denomination during its lifetime and only a one year (1930) attempt for a 0.50 one.
  

In the "1-2-5" scheme, an occasional gap can be found as well, e.g. the Federal German Mark, where the 0.20 denomination is strangely missing. There are also currencies which have a mix of both schemes, like 0.01-0.02-0.05, 0.10-0.25-0.50, 1.00-2.00-5.00. And of course, there are currencies with additional denominations like 0.03, 0.04, or 0.15.

With the introduction of the New Franc on 1960, the French suffered a severe devaluation, 100 francs became one franc. To compensate, France wants to show its power, it even creates stainless steel 1 centime coins which were worth more to produce than their face value
To show that France is eternal, France uses the design of coins from the beginning of the 20th century, at the time of the "gold franc". The franc was in silver with a design that everyone agrees that it is splendid.
A 50 cent coin is issued. It is part of the class of 10, 20 centimes and necessarily larger than the 20 centime coin and therefore larger than the 1 franc coin. It is an incongruity. On 1964, all this was corrected with the introduction of the 1/2 franc coin, which took up the design of the same silver coin from the turn of the century.
Why 1/2 franc in silver at the beginning of the century? Just to associate this coin with the class of the silver franc and not with that of the copper centimes.

The 1/2 franc coin has been issued in the tens of millions almost every year but this quantity of issue is obviously unrelated to the billion US cents issued each year, which is another subject widely debated in Numista threads and which remains so far without conclusive explication (you have to produce billions of them because Americans throw them in supermarket parking lots, Americans love new and shiny coins so we will recast all coins every year, etc ...)

Thanks, ArnoV and Frenchlover.

ArnoV, where can I put my face? How could I have missed that the 50 Centimes was replaced by the Half-Franc? As a collector of LMU coins (and indeed, as an owner of WWI-vintage Half-Francs), I am boggled, nay, staggered by my idiocy. How embarrassing. Thanks for getting me up to speed. As for the differences between the "1-2-5" and "half-half" schemes - and the discrepancies in each scheme... just like in Chemistry, the exceptions to the rules will beat you every time (I'm not much good at Chemistry).

Frenchlover, with regards to your final point, no wonder US Pennies are now mostly Zinc. And thanks for explaining the rationale behind the design changes. The Franc and Half-Franc are indeed splendid designs, as are almost all French coins (the 10 Franc of 1974-1987 is one of my favourite coins of all time. The design, and even the composition are gorgeous, and really evocative of the changes happening in France at the time). Hence my interest.

Thank you both. It's lessons like these that makes Numismatics so fascinating, being at the intersection of economics, history, sociology and so many other fields.

Not a silly question ;-)

France did not mint any 10 centimes / 1 décime from 1815 to 1852 .....

Quote: "ArnoV"​​In the "1-2-5" scheme, an occasional gap can be found as well, e.g. the Federal German Mark, where the 0.20 denomination is strangely missing. There are also currencies which have a mix of both schemes, like 0.01-0.02-0.05, 0.10-0.25-0.50, 1.00-2.00-5.00. And of course, there are currencies with additional denominations like 0.03, 0.04, or 0.15.

​And the 12,5 cents, the 1/8 of the unit, that can't be added to another different coin when half a cent is not existing
Or non-decimal numbers as 1/3 (1/3 Ecu, France kingdom)

Quote: "VieillePile"​Not a silly question ;-)
​​France did not mint any 10 centimes / 1 décime from 1815 to 1852 .....

​Due to the absence of official minting of divisional bronze coins between 1816 and 1848, these previously Napoleonic coins were unofficially valid (they were tolerated for daily trade) until the end of the Second Republic on 1852 when bronze coins marked "Ten centimes" and weighing 10 grams were struck with the effigy of Prince Louis-Napoleon, the future Napoleon III.
This long use explains the heavy wear of almost all such coins that have survived up to now.

about the 50c new franc replaced by nickle 1/2 franc - I was not alive in 1960, but I have long interest in the topic - I have some speculations about it: The project of the new franc was to return to the stability and faith of the pre-war (WW1, that is) old franc, and psychology was important for success. Thus the resurrection of la Semeuse for a 5 franc piece, and the Hercule group of Barre for the 10 in 1964, and centimes!
The new bronze 50 centime coin resembled very much the old-franc 50 Franc coin with crowing cock, and I believe circulated in par value for several years, as the 100 franc coin likewise was equal to 1 new franc.
This was, I imagine a transitional mode, while the old franc 50c coins were culled out of circulation. That accomplished, the 1/2 franc was released to further the impression of return to the silver coins of old.
Also, before 1964, the 100 old franc coins were completely culled from circulation before the new 1/2 franc coin could be confused with it, of similar module.

Absolutely right, Mr Midnight. Goal was to evidence that the french economy was back on stage, with a 10 F silver coin (25g, 900/1000) stricly similar to the former germinal 5 F "écu" (launched in 1803, last minted in 1878) despite 2 worldwars, popular front (1936) and decolonization.

Moreover, this 10 F coin has been marketed through the payment of pensions. Very few people had bank accounts by that time and pensions were paid in cash, at the post offices.
Since elderley people save more than they spend, these coins have been thesaurized and thus contributed to limit the inflation (impact of reducing M0 on inflation).

Enjoy all a good afternoon






https://www.journaldelor.fr/valery-giscard-destaing-presente-la-10-francs-hercule/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_supply

Quote: "VieillePile"​Absolutely right, Mr Midnight. Goal was to evidence that the french economy was back on stage, with a 10 F silver coin (25g, 900/1000) stricly similar to the former germinal 5 F "écu" (launched in 1803, last minted in 1878) despite 2 worldwars, popular front (1936) and decolonization.
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​Moreover, this 10 F coin has been marketed through the payment of pensions. Very few people had bank accounts by that time and pensions were paid in cash, at the post offices.
​Since elderley people save more than they spend, these coins have been thesaurized and thus contributed to limit the inflation (impact of reducing M0 on inflation).
​
​Enjoy all a good afternoon
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​https://www.journaldelor.fr/valery-giscard-destaing-presente-la-10-francs-hercule/
​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_supply

Excellent, thanks for sharing that, sir.

Quote: "LurkingSquid"... just like in Chemistry, the exceptions to the rules will beat you every time (I'm not much good at Chemistry).
​
​

​say also about English spelling and grammar!

Most of the 10 F Hercule (as well as their followers, 50 F, 30 gr, 900/1000, 1974 onwards) are found in very good conditions because of the thesaurisation.
Any french citizen of my age owns at least a coupleof them, usually given by the grandparents, as a reward for examinations, good marks, lost teeth, driving licence ;-)

One thing about demonetization is that the 1 franc coin issued before 1960 was not demonetized. I remeber wallets full of large used coin one old francs in the 60's and even my daugther, born in the 90's, remembers these old used aluminium worthless coins, bearing the value of 1 centime, that were not circulating anymore when she was born.

One game was to wedge these old coins in the public benches of the time. They fit so perfectly that it was impossible to dislodge them afterwards

I take it that we are really deeply conditioned by coins, their texture, their size and material, or at least we were before the credit card ...

Quote: "Mr. Midnight"​​​say also about English spelling and grammar!
​

​Speak for yourself, my friend! English was one of my better subjects at school (my marks still sucked though, because I just couldn't be bothered with essays and poems and things).

All very good information supplied in this thread. Thanks again. As a mere coin collector, I appreciate being surrounded by numismatists.

Meanwhile, I've been spamming my other collector friend with 5, 10 and 20 Centimes I have spare (shame no-one in Australia seems to collect the Franc, as they are some of the most beautiful coins on the planet)... hopefully I'll be able to digest all the above information and pass it on to him next time I see him.