10 Centimes pattern at the module of 10 centimes

This piece dates to the turbulent interregnum between the fall of Napoleon III's Second Empire in September 1870 and the formal establishment of the Third Republic — a period when the Government of National Defense was scrambling to maintain basic administrative functions while Prussian forces besieged Paris. Pattern coinage from this window is typically the work of individual engravers or mint officials testing designs for a post-imperial currency that had no settled political authority behind it yet. The Monnaie de Paris continued operating despite the siege, a logistical feat in itself.