2 Francs - Louis II Essai

Monaco's wartime coinage of 1943 was struck under Italian occupation, with the principality's monetary supply severely disrupted by the broader economic collapse across Axis-controlled territories. Essai pieces from this period were produced in limited numbers as pattern strikes to test designs before — or sometimes instead of — full circulation runs that never materialized.

The aluminium composition reflects wartime metal rationing, not a permanent policy decision. France itself had shifted to aluminium for small denominations by this point, and Monaco's issues tracked those constraints closely given the franc peg.