100 francs Charlemagne Essai

The Charlemagne 100 francs was part of France's "Grands Hommes" commemorative series, and the essai striking of 1990 was produced in strictly limited numbers by the Monnaie de Paris as a pattern intended for official approval before the circulation issue proceeded. Essais from this series were sold directly to collectors and never circulated. The GEM reference places this firmly within the modern French essai classification system codified by Gadoury and Elie.

Charlemagne's connection to French coinage runs deep — his monetary reforms of the 770s established the livre-sou-denier system that underpinned Western European currency for nearly a thousand years.