1 Leu - Ferdinand I Pattern Strike

The 1922 Romanian leu coinage was part of a broader monetary reorganization following the country's dramatic territorial expansion after World War I — Romania had nearly doubled in size through the acquisition of Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bukovina. Pattern strikes in bronze for the 1 leu denomination were produced as the government evaluated both composition and design options before settling on final specifications. Ferdinand I had been proclaimed king of a greatly enlarged Romania in 1922, and the coinage program of that year was explicitly tied to affirming the new political geography.

KM#Pn186 is among several documented patterns from this period, most struck at the Poissy mint in France, which handled much of Romania's coin production when domestic capacity was insufficient.