On 16 June, the Monnaie de Paris — the oldest continuously operating institution in France, founded in 864 AD — will sell its first solid-gold investment coin in 112 years.
It’s called the Marianne d’or. Four sizes will be offered, from 1/10 ounce (3.1 grams) up to a full ounce (31.1 grams), in 999.9 fine gold. There’s also a digital “e-Marianne,” where the Mint itself holds the coin in storage. The new product will compete on the world market with the Krugerrand, the Canadian Maple Leaf, and the American Gold Eagle.
The interesting question isn’t what. It’s why now.
A Quick History
France has minted gold coins for over a thousand years. The two famous series were the Louis d’or, introduced by Louis XIII in 1640, and the Napoleon, France’s standard gold investment coin from 1803 to 1914. For generations, French families bought, hoarded, gifted, and inherited Napoleons. They were the country’s household savings vehicle for over a century.
The Paris Mint stopped striking them in 1914. World War One broke the international gold standard, governments needed metal for war financing, and the gold coin tradition went quiet.
The Mint has produced commemorative coins ever since — pretty objects for collectors, made of gold-alloy with lower precious metal content. But no true bullion product sold near spot price. Until next month.
Why 2026?
Mint chief Marc Schwartz was unusually direct about the reason. The decision was driven by “investor demand” and prices that have “soared in recent years.” The stated goal: to “democratise the gold market in France.”
The price context behind that statement:
- Gold rose roughly 65% in 2025
- It hit an all-time high of $5,600 per ounce at the end of January 2026
- It currently trades near $4,400 — still up around 30% year-to-date and 165% over three years
112 years between investment-grade gold coins
Think about what it takes to get a 1,200-year-old state institution to dust off a product line it shelved during the First World War. The Paris Mint didn’t restart in 1971 when the gold standard ended. It didn’t restart in 1980, when gold first went parabolic. It didn’t restart in 2011 either. It’s restarting in 2026.
That’s the kind of decision committees don’t make lightly.
France Isn’t Acting Alone
In the past month:
- Ghana raised the share of mining output its central bank takes from 20% to 30%
- Malaysia introduced a 10% customs duty on bullion bar imports
- India hiked its gold import tax to modern record levels
- Germany clarified that 19% VAT applies to silver, platinum and palladium even in freeport storage
Different jurisdictions, different mechanics, same direction. Governments are either accumulating gold themselves, throttling private import channels, or building state-controlled retail products.
The Marianne fits this pattern. The Paris Mint is, after all, state-owned. Every coin sold means a French household is buying gold from a French government entity, in euros, with euros remaining inside French institutions. Whoever designed this understood balance-of-payments arithmetic.
What This Means for You
You don’t need to buy a Marianne to take a lesson from one being minted.
Investor implication: The signal isn’t “go buy French gold coins.” It’s that the world’s most established mints are responding to a level of demand that warrants restarting a 112-year-dormant product line. That kind of demand doesn’t reverse in a quarter. It builds over years.
Investor implication: Your coin options have never been better. Marianne, Krugerrand, Maple Leaf, American Gold Eagle — these government-minted coins exist because they offer liquidity, recognition, and small denominations that bars don’t. If you’ve been told gold investing means a kilo bar locked in a Swiss vault, that was true thirty years ago. There are now more retail-friendly options on the global market than at any point since the early 20th century.
The Paris Mint waited 112 years for the right moment to restart.
That’s a long base.
Sources: AFP, Reuters, Euronews, Monnaie de Paris.
Precious metals carry risk and prices can move sharply. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.