The period of the French Third Republic began after the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian war and his consequent abdication (4 september 1870). In the initial period, a Government of National Defense was established in Paris, which managed the transition period until the official proclamation of the Third Republic, with Adolphe Thiers elected as President of the Republic (31 august 1871).

The period of the Third Republic was very long, until the Second World War, and several series of coins were minted during the years, for a total of 13 different values ​​(precisely 1, 2, 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents, as well as 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 Francs). The coins were made with different materials: for the values ​​up to 25 cents the coins were in bronze, later replaced by different metals such as nickel, cupronickel and the maillechort; for the intermediate values ​​(from 50 cents to 5 francs) the first coins were in silver, then replaced by bronze-aluminum; finally, for the 10 and 20 franc pieces, gold was chosen, subsequently replaced by silver.

Most of the coins of this period were minted by the mint of Paris, with the exception of the initial serie "Ceres", where the coins was also produced in Bordeaux, while in the following years the production was almost entirely made by the capital, excluding a few years when some coins are made in other mints (Poissy, Madrid, Brussels and Castelsarrasin).

The Third Republic ended in june 1940, when Germany invaded France, occupying most of the territory.

Below is the list of French Third Republic coins:

• 1 centesimo
• 2 centesimi
• 5 centesimi
• 10 centesimi
• 25 centesimi
• 50 centesimi
• 1 Franco
• 2 Franchi
• 5 Franchi
• 10 Franchi
• 20 Franchi
• 50 Franchi
• 100 Franchi