Issued to mark forty years of Carol I's reign, this coin was part of a broader jubilee program that also included Romania's first major international exposition, held in Bucharest in 1906. Carol — a Hohenzollern prince imported to stabilize a fractious principality in 1866 — had by then presided over independence from Ottoman suzerainty, a kingdom proclamation, and victory in the Second Balkan War's precursor conflicts. The jubilee coinage was as much diplomatic theatre as celebration.
Mintage was modest, struck at Brussels. The .835 fineness matches the Latin Monetary Union standard Romania had formally adhered to since 1867.
Issued to mark forty years of Carol I's reign, this coin was part of a broader jubilee program that also included Romania's first major international exposition, held in Bucharest in 1906. Carol — a Hohenzollern prince imported to stabilize a fractious principality in 1866 — had by then presided over independence from Ottoman suzerainty, a kingdom proclamation, and victory in the Second Balkan War's precursor conflicts. The jubilee coinage was as much diplomatic theatre as celebration.
Mintage was modest, struck at Brussels. The .835 fineness matches the Latin Monetary Union standard Romania had formally adhered to since 1867.