France once again has its own gold bullion coin. On 26 May 2026, the Monnaie de Paris, the Paris Mint, announced that it would once more strike coins in pure gold, the first since it stopped making Napoleons and Louis about a century ago. On 16 June 2026, the new Marianne went on sale to the general public. So this is no longer fresh news. But together with Belgium’s Belga Gold from March, it makes a striking story: in the same year, two neighbouring countries are issuing their own gold bullion coin for the first time in a long while.
What exactly is the Marianne?
The Marianne comes in four sizes: one ounce (31.1 grams), half an ounce (15.55 grams), a quarter ounce (7.78 grams) and a tenth of an ounce (3.11 grams). All four are struck in gold of 999 thousandths. One side shows the face of Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic. The other side shows a map of France and its overseas territories.
The coin is sold by its weight in gold, at the price of the day. There is also a digital version, the E Marianne. Here the Mint holds the gold itself, and anyone who asks can later convert their digital coin into a real one. According to the Mint, the aim is to democratise the gold market in France and to offer a home grown alternative to foreign bullion coins such as the South African Krugerrand, the Canadian Maple Leaf and the American Eagle.
Two neighbours, two new coins
Belgium went first this year. On 25 March 2026, the Royal Belgian Mint presented the Belga Gold, in gold of 999.9 thousandths. It comes as a one ounce coin with a face value of 300 euros and as a quarter ounce with 75 euros. It is the very first official Belgian gold bullion coin. You can read all about it in our article on the Belga Gold.
That France and Belgium are launching such a coin at the same time is less of a coincidence than it seems. Both countries once struck the same gold coin. In 1865, France, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland agreed within the Latin Monetary Union to mint their 20 franc gold coins to the same rules: 6.45 grams, 90 percent gold. A Belgian Leopold II, a French Napoleon and a Swiss Vreneli were therefore worth exactly the same. You can learn more about that coin on our page about the 20 franc gold coin.
Marianne’s face is not new on French gold either. The 20 franc gold coin with the rooster, struck between 1899 and 1914, already carried her profile.
Selling old gold coins: how they are valued
Anyone with old Napoleons or other 20 franc gold coins in a drawer therefore actually owns the predecessors of the Marianne and the Belga Gold. When sold, such a coin is valued first and foremost on the pure gold it contains. A 20 franc gold coin holds about 5.81 grams of fine gold. That amount, multiplied by the gold price of the day, forms the basis of its value. Gold was trading at the end of this week at around 4,140 dollars per troy ounce.
Sometimes something is added on top. A rare year or a coin in exceptional condition can have a collector value above that of the gold. For most Napoleons this matters little, since hundreds of millions of them were struck. On our page about gold coins you will find the weight, the fineness and the amount of fine gold for each coin.
An old 20 franc gold coin is 90 percent gold, a new bullion coin almost 100 percent. When selling, the weight is therefore always converted to pure gold, not the total weight of the coin.
New bullion coin or old gold coin: the difference
A new bullion coin like the Marianne has a weight in round ounces and a fineness close to pure gold. Its value is therefore easy to work out. An old 20 franc gold coin was made for paying. It has a different weight, a lower fineness and often signs of wear. Yet both count as investment gold as long as they meet the European conditions, such as a fineness of at least 900 thousandths. Why that difference from a gold ring or chain matters is explained on our page about investment gold and scrap gold.
What changes for coin owners?
For the value of your old coins, the arrival of the Marianne changes nothing. The gold price is set on the world market, not by a mint launching a new coin. What the Marianne and the Belga Gold do show is that two countries that once struck the same gold coin together are again making gold with a face of their own. Anyone selling a Napoleon or a Leopold II is therefore selling a piece of monetary history whose value, just like that of the new coins, depends mainly on weight, fineness and the price of the day.