50 Pesos or Napoléon 20 Fr: which is the better buy today?
50 Pesos holds 37.50 g of fine gold and Napoléon 20 Fr 5.81 g: 50 Pesos holds 6.46 times the gold of Napoléon 20 Fr. The metal costs the same per gram in both; what differs is how much of the price is the coin rather than the gold — and the small one always carries more of it.
| coin | 50 Pesos | Napoléon 20 Fr |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 37.50 g | 5.81 g |
| gross weight | 41.67 g | 6.45 g |
| purity | 900 ‰ · 21.6 kt | 900 ‰ · 21.6 kt |
| diameter | 37 mm | 21 mm |
| thickness | 2.69 mm | 1.30 mm |
| face value | 50 pesos | 20 francs |
| struck | Mexico · 1921–1947 | France · 1803–1914 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
50 Pesos — The Centenario: 37.5 g of fine gold, more than an ounce, struck for the centenary of independence and restruck ever since with the 1947 date.
Napoléon 20 Fr — The French 20 francs, from Bonaparte to the Great War: the most widely held of the small European gold coins.
Both are struck in 900 ‰ · 21.6 kt: the same alloy, the same feel in the hand, and any difference on the scale is a difference in gold.
Both were money first: 50 Pesos from 1921 to 1947, Napoléon 20 Fr from 1803 to 1914. They trade today on the gold inside them and on how readily each is recognised over a counter.
What decides between them is not the gold, which costs the same per gram in both, but everything charged per coin: striking, distribution, the shop’s margin. Spread over 5.81 g the small coin carries far more of it per gram than the big one does over 37.50 g — which is why Napoléon 20 Fr is nearly always the dearer gold, and why it is bought anyway: it sells in smaller pieces, and sells everywhere.