Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Franc Essai
| Issuer | Monnaie de Paris |
|---|---|
| Year | 1948 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central motif features a facing head of a waterbuck, a large sub-Saharan antelope, with prominent sweeping horns between which a palm frond is displayed at the top. Flanking the animal's head on either side is a cowrie shell, with a stylized fish depicted beneath each shell, referencing the coastal and maritime character of the territory. The denomination and territorial name appear in the surrounding legend. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Fourth Republic's monetary reboot after Liberation produced a wave of essais — official trial strikes submitted for approval before production commitments were made. This 1948 piece is one such submission, produced by the Monnaie de Paris under the new republican administration still sorting out which designs would anchor everyday commerce. Most essais from this period were distributed to officials, collectors, and government ministries rather than tested in circulation, which is why survivors almost invariably appear in near-mint condition.
Mintages for Fourth Republic essais were typically in the low hundreds.