100 Lei - Carol II Pattern

Pattern coins for Carol II's Romania were being produced even as the king's grip on power collapsed. By 1940, Carol had dissolved political parties, ruled by royal dictatorship since 1938, and was navigating impossible pressure from both Berlin and Bucharest's own Iron Guard. He abdicated in September of that year, fleeing the country with a personal fortune and Magda Lupescu. This piece almost certainly never saw approval for circulation, superseded by events before production decisions could be made.