1 Cent

By 1943, French Indochina's copper and zinc supplies had been commandeered by Japanese occupation authorities, forcing the colonial administration to shift to aluminium for its smallest denominations. The KM#26 aluminium cent was struck in Hanoi rather than shipped from French metropolitan mints, which had been either seized or disrupted following the fall of France in 1940. Production under these conditions was erratic.

Aluminium coins from this period frequently survive in surprisingly high grades — the metal's low density meant minimal pocket wear, but it scratches badly, and genuinely clean examples are harder to find than mintage figures suggest.