20 Francs - Ahmad II Essai

Ahmad II ibn Ali ruled as Bey of Tunis from 1929 until his death in 1942, a period during which the French Protectorate maintained tight control over Tunisian monetary affairs. Essai pieces of this type were struck at the Paris Mint as trial or pattern submissions — functional proof-of-concept strikings produced in limited numbers for administrative approval rather than circulation. Most Tunisian essais of the interwar period survive in very small quantities, often just a handful of examples.

The .680 fineness is notably lower than the .835 silver standard used in French metropolitan coinage of the same period — a deliberate policy applied to colonial and protectorate issues.