10 Centime Second French Empire (1852-1870) Copper Napoleon III ( ...

1855-W, France (2nd Empire), Napoleon III. Copper 10 Centimes Coin

Mint Year: 1855. Condition: XF-AU!  Mint Place: Lille (W) References: KM-771.7. Denomination: 5 Centimes (2pcs) / 10 Centimes (2pcs) Weight: 10.24gm Material: Bronze Diameter: 30mm

Obverse: Bust of Napoleon III left. Engraver’s name (“BARRE”) below. Legend: NAPOLEON III EMPEREUR (privy mark) 1855  (privy mark) Reverse: Heraldic eagle standing on thunderbolts. Mint initial (W) below. Legend: EMPIRE FRANCAIS * DIX CENTIMES *

The Second French Empire or Second Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.

Napoleon III (or Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte) (1808–73) Emperor of the French (1852–70). He was the third son of   Hortense de Beauharnais stepdaughter of Napoleon I and Louis Bonaparte   (1778–1846), brother of Napoleon I and King of Holland (1806–10). After   the fall of Napoleon I, Napoleon III began a long period of exile in   Switzerland. On the death of Napoleon I’s only son, the Roi de Rome, in   1832, he became Bonapartist pretender to the French throne and twice   attempted to overthrow Louis Philippe, as a result of which he was   deported. In 1840 embarked upon the disastrous “Boulogne Conspiracy” to   gather supporters. He was arrested and imprisoned in the fortress of   Ham. He escaped to London (1846) disguised as a mason by the name of   “Badinguet”, which thereafter became his nickname. During the   Revolutions of 1848, he returned to France, and in December under the   new constitution was elected President of the French Republic. In 1852,   following a coup against Parliament, he had himself accepted as Emperor   of the French. Napoleon III took part in the Crimean War and presided   over the Congress of Paris (1856). His “Liberal Empire” (1860–70)   widened the powers of the legislative assembly. Underestimating   Bismarck, he allowed the latter’s belligerent EMS Telegram to provoke   him into fighting the Franco-Prussian War, the outcome of which brought   ruin to the Second Empire. He was captured by the Prussians and deposed,   spending the rest of his life in exile in England.