Napoleon was declared Emperor of the French in 18 May 1804, ending the First French Republic.

Year AN12 coins were updated from stated First Consul on the obverse to Emperor, but were otherwise unchanged. Thereafter, there were many changes to coin designs.

Napoleon’s coins continued to use the French Republican calendar through 1805 (which fell during AN14), when the Georgian calendar was used again. Technically, the First French Empire continued to be known as the French Republic until 1808, as depicted on the reverse of Napoleon’s coinage of those years. In late 1808, the end of the French Republic was unceremoniously acknowledged, to be reflected on coinage from 1 January 2009 on.

Napoleon was deposed in April 1814, and when he returned to power the next year many of the dies for silver coins had been lost or destroyed, except for the 5 francs. The 2 francs was re-created in 1815 and is noticeably different from the previous bust, but the 1 franc and half franc not minted. The gold 20 francs was struck in 1815, but the 40 francs was not.