1 Leu - Carol I Pattern Strike

Romania's 1906 issues were produced for the National Exposition in Bucharest, which marked forty years of Carol I's reign and was explicitly staged to project the image of a modernizing, industrializing nation to European observers. Pattern strikes from this event were produced in multiple metals and compositions as presentation and test pieces, distributed diplomatically rather than circulated.

KM#Pn105 specifically records the gold-plated bronze variant — a deliberate prestige finish applied to a base-metal flan, likely intended for display rather than submission through standard mint approval channels.