1 Piastre Pattern

The 1931 piastre pattern was struck by the Monnaie de Paris as part of a broader French effort to rationalize coinage for Indochina during a period when the colonial monetary system was under pressure from silver price volatility and competing regional currencies. Patterns of this type were produced in very limited numbers for official review and were rarely released beyond ministerial and archival sets.

The Lecompte 308 reference places this among a small group of essais evaluated but not adopted for circulation — the standard piastre continued under a modified specification instead.