25 Centimes – France

In 1904, France operated under the franc germinal, a currency system established by Napoleon in 1803 that had proven remarkably stable for over a century. This system was bimetallic, meaning the franc was legally defined as a fixed weight of both gold (0.290322 grams) and silver (4.5 grams). In practice, however, France was part of the Latin Monetary Union (LMU), an international treaty formed in 1865 with Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and later Greece. The LMU aimed to standardize coinage, allowing member nations' gold and silver coins to circulate freely across borders, effectively creating a multinational monetary zone.

By 1904, the Union was under significant strain. The fixed mint ratio between gold and silver had become outdated as the market value of silver plummeted due to global discoveries and increased production. This led to Gresham's Law in action: cheaper, full-weight silver coins from member states flooded France, while its gold coins were hoarded or exported. France, as the Union's largest and strongest economy, was forced to absorb these outflows to maintain the system, acting as a de facto guarantor at a considerable cost to its own gold reserves.

Consequently, while the franc itself remained strong and trusted domestically, the international framework supporting it was fragile. The French government and the Bank of France were engaged in ongoing debates about the future of bimetallism and the LMU, with a clear trend toward a de facto gold standard. The year 1904 thus represents a late, tense phase of the classical bimetallic system, with France clinging to its traditional monetary identity while economic realities increasingly pushed it toward the gold-based system already adopted by rivals like Britain and Germany.