20 Bani Pattern

Romania's 1905 coinage patterns were part of a broader evaluation of aluminium as a base-metal alternative during a period when the Latin Monetary Union's silver requirements were creating fiscal pressure on smaller member states. Aluminium was being tested across several European mints at the time, but Romania never adopted it for circulating bani coinage — the 20 bani denomination continued in cupro-nickel through this period. Pattern pieces like this one were almost certainly struck in very limited numbers at the Bucharest mint or under contract abroad, and seldom entered any documented distribution channel.