2 centimes Cérès Epreuve en argent

Épreuves in silver of bronze denominations occupy a peculiar niche in French numismatics — they were struck not for circulation but as presentation pieces and archival specimens, produced in tiny numbers for official records and select collectors. The Third Republic's coinage program under the direction of the Monnaie de Paris generated these silver trial strikes systematically through the 1870s, with surviving examples almost exclusively in institutional or long-held private collections.

The GEM reference places this firmly within the documented Cérès series trials. Mintage figures, where they survive at all, rarely exceed single or double digits.