The 1956 Union française essai pieces were trial strikes produced by the Monnaie de Paris as the French Union itself was collapsing — Algeria was already at war, and within two years the entire constitutional structure the coin's inscription referenced would be abolished by de Gaulle's Fifth Republic. Essais of this type were struck in limited numbers for administrative approval and collector distribution, never entering circulation.
The 1956 Union française essai pieces were trial strikes produced by the Monnaie de Paris as the French Union itself was collapsing — Algeria was already at war, and within two years the entire constitutional structure the coin's inscription referenced would be abolished by de Gaulle's Fifth Republic. Essais of this type were struck in limited numbers for administrative approval and collector distribution, never entering circulation.