1 Franc Monaco essai brun

Monaco issued its own small-denomination paper currency during and after the First World War largely because of a chronic shortage of French fractional coinage in circulation — a problem common across Western Europe at the time. This brown essai, one of several color trials produced for the 1 Franc type, was printed locally by Veuve A. Chêne rather than contracted to a major French security printer, which itself reflects Monaco's limited wartime options. Color essays of this series appear in brown, violet, and blue variants, printed on watermarked paper from the same plates used for circulating production.

Albert Berthe's engraving credit is unusually prominent for a note of this scale and origin.