Issued as part of France's ongoing essai program, this piece was struck for the 200th anniversary of Stendhal's birth — the author was born in Grenoble in 1783. The Monnaie de Paris produced essais outside normal circulation runs as trial or presentation strikes, distributed primarily to collectors and official recipients rather than through commercial channels, which explains consistent preservation across surviving examples.
Issued as part of France's ongoing essai program, this piece was struck for the 200th anniversary of Stendhal's birth — the author was born in Grenoble in 1783. The Monnaie de Paris produced essais outside normal circulation runs as trial or presentation strikes, distributed primarily to collectors and official recipients rather than through commercial channels, which explains consistent preservation across surviving examples.