Vichy(?) coins

Going through an elderly relative's miscellaneous coin collection, I found 2 French coins dated 1943 (I have NO idea how they got there).

They are 1 and 2 franc bits, and they seem to be aluminum. Instead of 'Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite,' they say 'Travail, Famille, Patrie' ('Struggle, Family, Fatherland'?) on one side and 'Etat Francais' on the other. (It strikes me as odd that it says 'French STATE,' but it certainly warn't no Republique!) That side also shows a double headed 'axe' and wheat ears (the coins are identical except for the '1' and '2,' and the size).

Queries: Are any of these symbols of the Vichy 'party?' (What was it called?) Did the pre-Vichy coins stay in circulation? Were the same (new) coins used in both the Occupied and Vichy zones? What changed after November 1942 when all of France was occupied?

All knowledgable responses gratefully accepted!

These are definitely 'Vichy' coins. There was no 'Vichy party'; Petain ruled by decree, under a resolution passed by the French National Assembly in 1940.

'Travail, Famille, Patrie' was the 'slogan' of Petain's regime. The correct translation is 'work, family, fatherland'. Petain was an extreme reactionary, who valued above all else order. There were some minor fascist parties in France (Cagoulards, Croix-de-Feu, Action Francais) but they got very little active patronage from the regime.

In fact, on August 12, 1941, Petain banned all political activity of any kind. In a broadcast that day, he told the French people 'Today I wish to save you from yourselves.'

The axe and wheat ears are the traditional symbol of fascism.

Work, Family, Fatherland was the motto of the Etat Francais, the Petain-led regime which replaced the French IIIrd Republic in 1940, and which was itself replaced by the IVth Republic in 1944. The motto of the French 3rd and subsequent (current one is the 5th) republics is 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity'.

The Vichy 'French State' was a different constitutional animal, and not a democracy.

The axe is a 'francisque', alledgedly used by the Franks (a Germanic barbarian tribe which would evolve into France, Charlemagne was a Frankish emperor. I know the Franks used throwing axes, but have no idea if they looked like the Vichy 'francisque' and used as a symbol for the Vichy state.

The wheat symbolizes the fact that Vichy considered agriculture better than industry ('Earth doesn't lie', for reasons which were ideological (fear of the 'corruption' of city life, with attendant socialism and democracy), economical (Vichy France had practically no industry) and diplomatical (being Germany's breadbasket fitted in very well with what the Germans had in mind for France).

There were no parties. The state was called Etat Francais.

Initially, yes, but they were reminted and replaced by the new ones, which used less rare metals (nickel).

I'm not 100% sure but I think so. Theoretically, Vichy still ruled the Occupied zone, except that it was occupied by German forces so German governors could directly run some aspects of the administration (e.g. police, propaganda, etc).

Nothing. Vichy officially remained in force, except that German troops were 'protecting' it from Allied invasion, and most of the Vichy armed forces had been disbanded.

The change was 1944 when a new regime appeared (unless my memory is wrong about the date).

Believe it or not, my friend found Vichy coins in circulation in Bonneval Sur Arc - http://tinyurl.com/2n4r9 - while on a skiing trip in the mid 1960s!!

I guess this little village had its own micro economy. Must be a mountain thing. I wonder when they'll get the Euro?

...

In the original fasces (which, through the Italian fascio, gives fascism its name) the wheat ears were wooden rods. They were carried before a Lictor in Ancient Rome as a symbol of his power to punish wrongdoers and the rods were used to adminster whippings on the spot. If an axe head was included, the Lictor also had the power of execution.

Colin Bignell

I remember being given Vichy coins as change as late as the 1970's (or perhaps even the early 1980's). In 1959, the French changed their francs to 'new francs' (with one new franc being worth 100 old francs).

So you could simply use Vichy coins as being worth so many old francs, i.e. cents. However, there were very few things worth 1-2 cents and new coins appeared in the 1980's (forgot the exact date), so I don't remember having seen Vichy coins in circulation since.

I have some 'occupation' francs issued by the Nazis. They say Etat France and have the double axe. They say (in French) Work, Family, Country, instead of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. They are dated 1945. Are these the coins that you are talking about?

They might be, although the ones that I was mentioning were Vichy coins, not Nazi-issued occupation francs, and I would find it very unlikely that any such coins were minted in 1945, for obvious reasons.

I'm not a numismatic expert, however. I don't see why the Germans would have bothered making French coins (no great disruption of the French economy, compared to what four years of occupation had done), so the least likely explanations for 1945 coins would be 1/ the French continuing to make Vichy coins after the liberation for a while (not very likely), and 2/ Vichy making 1945-dated coins in advance.