First time posting here, hopefully this fits into the niche of this area. I am not what you would consider a numismatist, nor do I have a collection of silver/gold that might be considered substantial. We have fallen on fairly rough financial times here in my household, thanks to the unforeseeable nature of life. Should it become necessary to hock this baby, having a record of it seemed appropriate.
According to some digging around I did, this plug is .900 silver. Apparently the French of this era (1848-1849) didn't feel as though 5 Francs was worth the extra silver to make it .999.
This was in a small collection left to me by my grandfather. Among various other coins, this one "struck" me as one of the most interesting, thanks in part to the edge lettering.
I neither speak nor read French, but thanks to the wonder of the internet's translations services, this reads "God Protects France".