Q: Are the myths surrounding the French Angel coin true?

Few coins carry the mystique of the French Angel coin and most of what we read on the internet seems to stretch the truth.  On numerous websites we found the tale that the coin`s designer, Augustus Dupre,  had his life spared from the guillotine in the 1790`s due to the lucky French angel coin in his pocket.  We`d say he was indeed lucky if this were true, since the coin was not minted for another 80 years! Perhaps Dupre had gone `back to the future` to get this lucky coin for protection!  Other sites reference that Hermann Goering, chief of Hitler`s Luftwaffe, was obsessed with the coin and confiscated all that he could find.  We imagine his fascination didn`t just stop with this particular coin, as the Nazis plundered just about anything of value they could find including coins, jewelry, and art. We doubt they just confiscated the French gold coins and left the others behind.

It does seem to be true that French pilots in World War I carried the coin into aerial dogfights for good luck, and French mariner`s carried the coin to protect them from the dangers of long voyages. Likewise thousands of people have carried this coin for good luck during the past century.

The coin shows an Angel symbolically writing the French constitution, showing devine intervention in crafting that historic document.  Behind the Angel is the fasces, a bundle of rods tied together.  This symbolizes that individually each is weak, but united there is strength.  The coin also shows the rooster, an emblem of the fighting sprit of independence.

With about a fifth of an ounce of 22kt gold, this gold coin has remained one of the world`s favorites for over a hundred years