100 Francs Kings, Dutch text, Essai

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Belgium faced the "Royal Question" — a bitter national crisis over whether Leopold III, who had remained in occupied Belgium during the war, could return to the throne. The 1948 essai pieces were produced during this unresolved standoff, with the king still in exile in Switzerland. Pattern and essai strikes from this period reflect the institutional uncertainty: dies were prepared, test strikes made, yet final coinage decisions remained hostage to a political impasse that would not be resolved until the 1950 referendum.

The copper composition here distinguishes this essai from production-metal trials. Unlisted in Morin and Lindman-Albouy, which places it outside the mainstream reference framework for Belgian patterns entirely.