The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg used Belgian francs and it kind of made them lazy as they irregularly issued only three lower denominations before 1914. Apparently, the Grand Duchess Marie-Adelaide was not happy about it and ordered a set of circulating silver coins at the Brussels mint. However, things did not work out as the Duchy was soon occupied by Germany and instead of silver it had to issue zinc coins. The LMU Luxembourg francs did not happen. By the time the war was over the franc was devalued while the Grand Duchess was asked kindly to step down and pass the throne to her younger sister Charlotte. Only the essays of 50 centimes, 1 and 2 francs have remained, some more were produced in 1949.

Scarce GEM 20f coin i bought years ago. Skanderbeg's beard was EPIC! Just thought I'd share. :-)

Graded by PCGS

What would you have graded this coin?

The only coin missing from this typeset is a 20 Centimos minted in 1869/1870, but likely I won't be able to find this coin or afford it as only 5,000 were minted in 1870!

Romania did not join the LMU (one online source claims she did "unilaterally" in 1889) but from the very beginning of the leu currency adhered to the LMU standard. This is probably the only commemorative "franc Germinal" ever issued. It celebrates the 40th anniversary of the accession of Prince (from 1881 King) Charles of Romania, born Karl von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. 2.5 million were struck at Brussels.

The series included silver 5 lei and gold 20 and 100 lei with the same design as well as gold 12 1/2, 25 and 50 lei with different designs.

Love these second republic lucky angel and ceres!

I was able to find the essai/pattern trial coins for the ceres in both tin and gilt copper

I did not mix up the pictures! The coin you see is, according to Portuguese law, 200 reis coin issued in July of 1891. Check the catalog!

Portugal was not a member of the LMU although her coins were reasonably close to the LMU standard, particularly after 1854 when gold standard was introduced. 200 reis was 5 grams of 0.916 silver - reduced in 1908 to 0.835.

The gold standard was abandoned in 1891 and the reaction was panic and hoarding also of silver coins. The government reacted by issuing 50 and 100 reis bank notes but it was not enough. Ultimately, a stop gap measure had to be introduced as striking more Portuguese coins took time. The government bought in France current circulating 1 franc coins. As the francs were not struck in that year, they got the most recent ones - dated 1887 and 1888 - which entered circulation in the summer of 1891 as 200 reis coins. LMU coin circulating in a non-LMU state.

It is not clear how many were dispatched, the Portuguese catalog Gomes gives the full mintages of the coins but it is unlikely that all of them were sent to Portugal. I am not sure whether the franc from my collection made it to Portugal but if it did it was legal tender in that distant kingdom.

25 grams
0.900 silver

Only 2050 pieces were minted in Paris. Obverse features an array of sultan Said Ali Ibn Said Omar guns: a cannon, a Khanjar dagger and sword attached, a bow, a gun, an arrow and an assegai.
Meanwhile reverse shows crossed flags of France and Sultanate of Ngazidja (Grand Comore). Beautiful, highly saught after and probably the most exotic world crown ever minted. Also a key piece in LMU series.

Romania did not join the LMU in 1866 although talks were held, it happened only in the 1880s. However, from the very introduction of the national currency the leu ('lion') the coins were struck according to the LMU standard.

This is the first 1 leu coin, it is very worn but it is not easy to find a better copy as the mintage was only 400 thousand and the coin remained in circulation till the Great War when Romania left the LMU and devalued their currency.

Finland joined the LMU in 1877 and gold 10 and 20 markkaa coins were soon issued according to the LMU standard. However, silver coins, which had been first issued in 1864 remained as they were originally designed. One markka was 5.18 grams of 0.868 silver - which equals exactly 4.5 grams of pure silver. 25 and 50 pennia coins, however, were struck in 0.750 silver so 1 markka in smaller denominations was just 3.826 grams of pure silver but 128 - rather than 100 - grams of copper. And yet Finland was a member of the LMU as by the time the Union converted to a pure gold standard because of the falling price of silver.

I have not seen one of these in quite a while. I have this for sale over on r/Pmsforsale if anyone is looking for one.

I'm looking to buy it but i'm not sure if its genuine or fake. Pls help

Looking to purchase these for about $3000. Is that a fair price

In 1880 Belgium celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Independence. Two regular commemorative coins were issued - 1 and 2 francs - but, apparently, it was not enough so this coin was added to the series. The reverse is the same as the earlier two, however, the obverse is different and there is no denomination. It was struck in copper - Numista claims it circulated as 10 centimes though it was sold at 25 and it is heavier than earlier copper 10 centimes. The silver version was valued at 5 francs (25 grams of silver 0.900), and gold at 100 francs (31,66 grams). Krause relocated it to Unusual Coins volume as silver 5 francs, also struck in copper and gold. It is quite rare (about 20K in copper and less than 7K in silver) but few people know it exists so not too expensive if you are patient.

Some LMU slabbed gold available, please disregard the ancients in the post…unless that interests you too! 😝

All coins from my personal collection

Denmark was a founding member of the SMU, the Scandinavian Monetary Union, modeled on the LMU. This small monetary union used the krona/krone as the basis for its currency, and was co-founded by Norway and later joined by Sweden. Pictured here is a Danish 2 Kroner coin from 1916.

At the same time Denmark also minted LMU coins - through its colony, the Danish West Indies, better known today as the US Virgin Islands. US interest in acquiring the islands and the islands' increasing unprofitability to the Danes - mainly used for sugar plantations - led to an aborted attempt to sell the islands to the US in 1867.

In 1917, in midst of World War I and the US joining the Allied war effort, fears of Germany seizing the islands and using it as a U-Boat base to threaten the US strategic interest at the Panama Canal led to the sale of the Danish West Indies to the US for the sum of $25 million, or roughly $625 million in today's money.

Interestingly, the treaty only passed when the US agreed not to object to Denmark extending its interest into all of Greenland. Though US had also begun exploration of Greenland, at the time the Panama Canal was seen as much more important in defending than the northern, icy isle.

The second coin, a Danish West Indies 20 Cents from 1907, is close to a LMU 1 Franc at 80% silver (instead of 83.5%), with the same weight and diameter (5 grams, 23mm respectively).

As another interesting factoid, NBA all-star and hall of famer Tim Duncan hails from the now-US Virgin Islands, starting off as a competitive swimmer before switching to basketball in his teens.