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100 Francs Trial of Jean Baptiste Merlen
| Issuer | France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1929 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Laureate and draped female effigy facing left, her hair bound with a wreath of laurel leaves, rendered in a classical style. The legend REPVBLIQVE FRANÇAISE arcs around the upper periphery, with the engraver's name MERLEN inscribed in small characters at the lower right of the field. The portrait is set against a flat, unadorned field within a beaded border. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The denomination CENT FRANCS is boldly inscribed in two lines at the centre of the field, with the date 1929 below. The central design is flanked by two crossed cornucopiae or decorative branches, one of olive and one of wheat, encircling the value in a wreath-like arrangement. The word ESSAI appears in small letters at the top of the field above the wreath, denoting the trial or pattern status of the piece. The design is contained within a beaded border. |
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| Additional information |
Jean Baptiste Merlen was the principal engraver at the Paris Mint from 1816 until his death in 1838, so a trial piece bearing his name issued nearly a century after his tenure raises immediate questions of attribution — almost certainly a retrospective or commemorative essai rather than a contemporary test strike. France's monetary reform debates of the late 1920s generated an unusual volume of pattern and trial coinage as the franc struggled to stabilize following its post-war devaluation and Poincaré's 1926 intervention fixing the rate at roughly one-fifth of its prewar gold value.
Brass was a common trial medium for Paris Mint essais of this period, chosen for its workability rather than any intended monetary use.