20 Francs Boivin's Essai

In the political chaos following the February Revolution of 1848, the newly proclaimed Second Republic held open competitions for coinage designs, attracting submissions from artists outside the usual official channels. Boivin's essay was among the competitive entries that never advanced to production — the Republic's coinage ultimately went through multiple rounds of rejection before settling on accepted types, leaving a trail of trial pieces that now document the competition itself rather than any circulating issue.

Essais of this period in gold are exceptionally rare survivors, struck in small numbers purely for evaluation.