10 Francs Essai

Mali's post-independence coinage program produced a series of essais — trial strikes submitted for official approval — that in many cases never translated into circulating issues. This 1976 aluminium piece is one such example: struck for evaluation purposes, it entered collections rather than pockets. The Banque Centrale du Mali was navigating a turbulent monetary period, having rejoined the West African CFA franc zone in 1984 after years operating its own currency, and many proposed issues from the mid-1970s were rendered moot by that eventual realignment.