2 Centimes Epreuve en argent sur flan mat

The 1898 2 centimes épreuve was never intended for circulation — these matt silver trial strikes were produced at the Paris Mint for official presentation and archival purposes, allowing authorities to assess the die work before committing to bronze production runs. The GEM 6.1 reference places this among a documented series of Third Republic pattern issues, but surviving examples are rare precisely because institutional attrition — not collector demand — governed how many were kept.