The Monnaie de Paris (Paris Mint), created in 864, is the oldest French institution. Administratively speaking, the "Direction of Coins and Medals" - the national mint - is an administration of the French government charged with issuing coins as well as producing medals and other similar items. Many ancient coins are housed in the collections maintained there.
Though in the Middle Ages there were numerous other mints in provincial cities officially issuing legitimate French coinage struck in the name of the ruler. For several centuries, the number of royal workshops varied. Some were repeatedly closed and reopened due to financial crises, while the needs of the king (financing wars, etc) and new territories annexed by the crown also caused frequent fluctuations in how many were active at any one time. During all this time, the Monnaie de Paris was always the prime issuer.
At the end of 1689 there were 22 mints in total, yet barely two years later this number had risen to 27.
The regional workshops gradually disappeared and in 1870 only three remained: Bordeaux, Paris and Strasbourg. By 1878, only Monnaie de Paris was still in operation.
While they existed as branch mints, the separate mints (some in occupied territory now in other countries) had the following mint marks:
Paris (A or no mint mark), 1795 - present
Metz (AA), 1797 - 1800
Rouen (B), 1796 - 1846; 1853 - 1857
Beaumont-le-Roger (B), 1941 - 1973
Strasbourg (BB), 1797 - 1870
Castelsarrasin (C), 1914; 1943 - 1946
Genua / Genova, Italy (CL), 1813 - 1814 (First Empire)
Lyon (D), 1796 - 1840; 1848 - 1858
Genève / Geneva, Switzerland (G), 1800 - 1805 (First Empire)
La Rochelle (H), 1803 - 1835
Limoges (I), 1797 - 1835
Bordeaux (K), 1797 - 1803
Bayonne (L), 1798 - 1835
Toulouse (M), 1803 - 1836
Marseille (M/A - A superimposed over M), 1801 - 1809
Perpignan (Q), 1797 - 1835
Orléans (R), 1797
Rome, Italy (Crown / R), 1812 - 1813 (First Empire)
Nantes (T), 1797 - 1820; 1826 - 1835
Turin / Torino, Italy (U),1803 - 1813 (First Empire)
Lille (W), 1798 - 1846; 1853 - 1857
Amiens (X), ???
Utrecht, Netherlands (mast with flag, a fish for mint master Gideon Jan Langerak de Marchie Sarvaas), 1812 - 1813 (First Empire)
French money was also minted in London, UK (R) in 1815 (before the Restoration), Bruxelles / Brussels, Belgium (mint mark B. in 1874, B in a circle in 1939), and in the Philadelphia Mint, USA in 1944 due to the German occupation of France at the time.
The mint traditionally also puts privy marks on its coins, one for the mint master (or equivalent title) and one for the chief engraver:
At different times, the Paris Mint was governed by the following people:
(with the title of Prepositus monetae Parisiansis):
1225 - 1226 Marcellus
1270 Pierre Barbez
1296 Thomas Buchart
1296 - 1311 Régnier Le Flamant
1296 - 1315 Guillaume Le Flamant
(with the title of Cussorum Moneta):
1315 - 1326 Pierre de Mante
1329 - 1337 post vacant
1436 - 1437 Jacques Cœur
1426 - 1485 Pierre Fromont
1488 - 1490 Martin Vivat
1489 - 1512 Laurent Sureau
1541 - 1555 Bastien de Riberolles
(with the title of Président de la Cour des Monnaies):
1555 Claude Bourgeois
1558 Jean Le Lieur
1571 François du Lion
1590 Claude Fauchet
1599 Guillaume Le Clerc
1610 Guillaume Lusson
1610 Jacques Poitevin
1642 André du Pajot
1662 Nicolas Cotignon
1664 Jacques Hosdier
1715 Louis Hosdier
1727 Étienne-Alexandre Choppin de Gouzangre
1772 René Choppin d’Arnouville
1781 - 1791 Étienne Jean Benoît Thevenin de Tanlay
1791 Jean Dupeyron de La Coste
(with the title of Directeur de fabrication de la Monnaie):
1794 Augustin Dupré
1794 Jean-Jacques-Joseph Anfrye
1795 - 1797 (An IV - An V - Revolutionary Year IV to Revolutionary Year V) Alexandre Roettiers de Montaleau
1797 (An V - Revolutionary Year V) unknown (cornucopia)
1797 (An V - Revolutionary Year V) - 1820 Charles-Pierre De l'Espine (rooster)
1821 - 1842 Jean-Pierre Collot (anchor over letter C)
1843 - 1845 Alain Étienne Cambry
15 June 1845 - 13th October 1860 Charles Louis Dierickx (pointing hand)
1861 - 1879 Alfred Renouard de Bussière (bee)
(with the title of Directeur des monnaies et médailles):
1871 Zéphirin Camélinat
1875 - 1891 Jean-Louis Ruau
1891 - 1893 Georges de Liron d'Airolles
1893 - 1900 Alfred de Foville
1900 - 1907 François Arnauné14
1914 - 1915 Émile Jacquin
1915 - 1918 Louis Martin
1918 - 1925 Sylvestre Bouvier
1925 - 1927 Louis Formerie
1927 - 1934 Michel Dally
1934 - 1946 Étienne Moneclaey
1946 - 1952 Louis Vallon
1951 - 1952 Marcel Renaud
1952 - 1957 Yves Malecot
1957 - 1962 Robert Labonnelie
1962 - 1984 Pierre Dehaye
1984 - 1987 Jacques Campet
1987 - 1991 Patrice Cahart
1992 - 1995 Pierre Consigny
1995 - 1999 Emmanuel Constans
1999 - 2002 Françoise Saliou
2002 - 2007 Dov Zerah
(with the title of Président-Directeur général de la Monnaie):
2007 - 2017 Christophe Beaux
2017 - 2018 Aurélien Rousseau
27 November 2018 - present Marc Schwartz
The position of Engraver General of Currency was created in 1547, at a time when there were mints scattered all over France. Back in those days the Engraver General used to cut the original punches, which were then sent out to all the different mints. Since 2000, the title is "Responsable de l'Atelier de Gravure" - Head of the Engraving workshop.
Chief engravers and their privy marks:
1547 - 1557 Marc Béchot
1557 - 1582 Claude de Héry
1582 - 1599 Philippe Danfrie (the elder)
1599 - 1604 Philippe Danfrie (the younger)
1605 - 1625 Nicolas Briot
1626 - 1630 Pierre Régnier
1630 - 1646 Jehan Darmand, also called L'Orphelin
1646 - 1672 Jean Warin
1672 - 1681 François Warin
1682 - 1703 Joseph Roettiers
1704 - 1727 Norbert Roettiers
1727 - 1753 Joseph-Charles Roettiers
1753 - 1772 Charles-Norbert Roettiers
1772 - 1774 Joseph-Charles Roettiers
1774 - 1791 Pierre-Simon-Benjamin Duvivier
1791 - 1803 (An IV - An XI) Augustin Dupré (goddess Artemis shooting bow)
1803 (An XI) -1816 Pierre-Joseph Tiolier (stylised cursive Tr which looks like the letter C)
11 September 1816 - 31 December 1842 Nicolas-Pierre Tiolier (horse head, or five-pointed star)
1 January 1843 - 14 February 1855 Jacques-Jean Barre (greyhound head)
27 February 1855 - 31 December 1878 Désiré-Albert Barre (anchor)
4 October 1870 - 23 June 1871 Bertrand Marchais - interim Chief Engraver, from Bordeaux
1 January 1879 - 31 December 1879 Jean-Auguste Barre (anchor with a bar)
1880 - 1896 Jean Lagrange (fasces, or bundle of arrows)
1896 - 1930 Henri-Auguste Patey (torch)
1931 - 1958 Lucien Bazor (bird's wing)
October 1957 - April 1974 Raymond Joly (owl)
April 1974 - February 1994 Émile Rousseau (dolphin)
3 February 1994 - 28 February 2001 Pierre Rodier (bee)
2001 - 2002 Gérard Buquoy, head of the engraving workshop (horseshoe)
2002 - 2003 Serge Levet, head of the engraving workshop (stylised heart)
2004 - 2010 Hubert Larivière, head of the engraving workshop (hunting horn, a wave and a fish)
2011 - 2020 Yves Sampo, head of the engraving workshop (pentagon rosette with stylised letters ag mp ys, for Atelier de Gravure, Monnaie de Paris and Yves Sampo)
July 2022 - present Joaquin Jimenez (square whose upper left quarter is occupied by a smaller square - symbolising his initials JJ, plus a stylised rhinoceros head)
Separately, the branch mints had their own mint masters with their own personal symbols, like (non-exhaustive list):
Bayonne
1803 - 1810 Pierre-Romain Darripe (tulip)
Bordeaux
1796 - 1803 Laurent-Baptiste Lhoste (oil lamp)
1861 - 1867 Ernest Dumas (hammer and pickax)
1870 - 1871 Joseph Marchant Dupleny (M inside six-pointed star)
1870 - 1878 Henri Delbeque (trefoil cross)
Lille
1796 - 1816 Louis-Théophile-François Lepage (caduceus)
1817 - 1840 Alexandre Beaussier (caduceus)
1853 - 1857 Charles-Frédéric Kuhlmann (oil lamp)
Limoges
1804 (An XII) - 1822 Martial Parent (clasped hands / handshake)
Lyon
1803 - 1823 Michel Gabet (bee)
Marseille
1801 (An IX) - 1809 Cyprian Gaillard (six-leafed flower / star)
Nantes
1782 - 1793 (An II) Marie-Joseph François (sitting greyhound)
Orléans
1797 (An V - Revolutionary Year V) Charles-Pierre De l'Espine (rooster)
Rouen
1786 - 1794, 1803 - 1817 Joseph Lambert (paschal lamb)
1818 - 1820 Alphonse Lambert (paschal lamb)
1821 - 1844 Alain Étienne René de Cambry (paschal lamb)
Strasbourg
1860 - 1870 Henri Delbecque (trefoil cross)
The Mint employs a Cornucopia ('Horn of Plenty") mark on coins struck at its main (and for quite a while - only) facility - Paris until 1973, then Pessac. The symbol was first used in 1880 as a privy mark of the Director of the Mint, in conjunction with the mint mark and other privy marks: e.g., a coin would have a letter A for mint mark, plus a Cornucopia for the (current) Director of the Mint, plus fasces or torch for the (current) Chief Engraver of the Mint. It was used in this fashion from 1880 until 1898, and then again in 1901. Normally, it would have been expected that a new symbol would be put in its place after a change of directors, but this did not happen. The symbol continued to be used on coins struck for other countries from 1901 onward, and re-appeared on French coins in 1960. It can (probably) be considered a mint mark now. | 
