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1 Cent Pattern
| Issuer | French Indochina |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Edmond-Émile Lindauer |
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| Obverse description | The obverse features a centrally placed round hole flanked by crossed olive and laurel branches rising from below, with the large denomination numeral '1' and the word 'CENT' positioned prominently below the hole. Above the hole, a profile effigy of Marianne wearing a Phrygian cap is rendered in low relief, with the word 'ESSAI' inscribed at upper right. The circular legend 'REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE' runs along the periphery, divided left and right of the central design. The field displays the characteristic zinc surface texture typical of wartime essai coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is dominated by the large numeral '1' above the central round hole and the word 'CENT' below it, flanked on either side by gracefully rendered rice stalks laden with grain, evoking the agricultural character of Indochina. The circular legend 'INDOCHINE FRANÇAISE' is inscribed along the periphery, reading from lower left to upper right. The date '1940' is placed in the exergue at the bottom of the field, below the hole. The overall design, engraved by Lindauer, reflects the Art Deco aesthetic prevalent in French colonial coinage of the period. |
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| Additional information |
By 1940, the fall of France to Germany had left the Indochinese colonial administration politically isolated and materially cut off from metropolitan supply chains. The zinc pattern coinage of this period reflects the Vichy-aligned administration's scramble to establish local production capacity under Japanese pressure — Japan having effectively assumed military control of the territory that same year. Whether this pattern was ever seriously considered for full production is unclear; the occupation's accelerating disruption of normal commerce made large-scale zinc coinage increasingly academic.
Zinc itself was a wartime compromise material, prone to corrosion in tropical humidity — a practical liability that likely contributed to the pattern never advancing further.