In 1984 I was the successful bidder in an auction, buying an 1851A Ceres Head5 Francs, lot number 234 in this catalog. That purchase inspired me to begincollecting French coins.

I was familiar with collecting by type and used Victor Gadoury's catalog as the reference for my Decimal Type Set.

I met Wade Hinderling, my mentor, in 1988. I told him I wanted to collect a highgrade French Decimal Type Set. He took it from there. Wade recommended notincluding coins minted after about 1940 because they are common.

Wade understands that coins which are high grade and important create notablecollections. This collection reflects both his knowledge of French coinage and hisexpertise as a professional numismatist and would not exist were it not for hispainstaking efforts. He selected most of the coins in this catalog.

Every collector has their favorite design and mine is the Ceres Head. I told Wadeabout my passion for Ceres Head coinage and he fed my passion, finding rareCeres Head coins in high grade, most notably the 1849 5 Francs in gold (lot#222), Oudine's 1848 Design Competition 5 Francs in silver (lot #214), the set of1848 Competition 5 Francs in white metal (lot #s 188 - 221), most of the coins inthe Ceres Head 5 Francs business strike set (various lot #s) among many others.

When I first saw the Semeuse design it reminded me of the US Liberty Walkinghalf dollar, one of America's most beautiful coins. At the time the circulating silverSemeuse coins from 1898 to 1920 were relatively inexpensive, even in gemcondition. My collection includes complete date sets of 50 Centimes, 1 and 2Francs in addition to a number of important Semeuse silver and gold Essais.

I have often wondered why I was so fortunate that Wade offered me coins hecould have sold to other clients, dealers or even consigned to auction? Lucky,lucky me!

1) Wade is the source for 513 of the 521 lots in this catalog and most of theimportant coins.

2) of the 521 lots, 232 are !

3) 217 of the lots came from Wade!

As Wade was building the Decimal Type Set he added coins from theRevolutionary Period and early 19th century Napoleonic coins from countriesNapoleon ruled, thus the collection's name, .

I did not realize how important this collection is until Nicolas Gimbert expressedhis enthusiasm.

I'm extremely honored that Nicolas and his company, MDC Monnaies deCollection, are presenting my collection in its own catalog. The catalog is atribute to Wade Hinderling who contributed most of the coins to the collection.