25 Centimes

Issued in the final years of the Third Republic, this piece was produced as France lurched toward catastrophe — the 1940 dates were struck while German forces were already advancing through the Ardennes. Nickel silver was chosen partly to conserve strategic metals, a compromise that proved short-lived; occupation authorities would soon requisition even these base alloys. Surviving 1940-dated pieces are notably scarcer than their 1938 and 1939 counterparts, production having been cut short by the armistice of June 22nd.