Catalog
1 Cent Pattern
| Issuer | French Indochina |
|---|---|
| Year | 1896 |
| Type | Coin pattern |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse displays four large Chinese characters arranged around the central round hole, reading 一百分之一 (one one-hundredth), with the characters positioned in the four quadrants of the field within an inner beaded circle. The circular Latin legend INDO-CHINE FRANÇAISE runs along the upper periphery between two beaded borders, while the date 1896 appears in the lower exergue flanked by dots, with the word ESSAI (trial) inscribed at the lower right, denoting the pattern status of this strike. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Pattern coinage for French Indochina was typically produced at the Paris Mint, where striking trials in alternative metals allowed colonial administrators to weigh cost against durability before committing to a production run. Zinc was an attractive option on paper — cheap and abundant — but proved chronically brittle in tropical humidity, which likely explains why this composition never advanced beyond pattern status for the one cent denomination.
KM#E5 survives in very small numbers, as is expected of any essai that was rejected outright rather than approved with revisions.