10 Francs - Muhammad VIII

Muhammad VIII al-Amin became Bey of Tunis in June 1943, weeks after the Axis surrender in North Africa ended the brief but consequential German-Italian occupation. These silver issues were struck under Free French authority as Tunisia transitioned back into the French protectorate framework, making them a product of a politically awkward interregnum — nominally Beylical, practically French-administered, with Vichy-era institutional memory still fresh in the mint hierarchy.

The .680 fineness reflects wartime silver rationing applied across French colonial issues of the period, a deliberate step down from the .835 standard used before the war.