25 Centimes - Léopold III BELGIQUE-BELGIE

These two years of issue bracket the final stretch of Belgian peacetime coinage before Germany's May 1940 invasion rendered normal mint operations impossible. Léopold III had already caused significant political friction by refusing to align Belgian foreign policy with France and Britain, a stance that would later see him accused of collaboration — a controversy that ultimately forced his abdication in 1951.

The nickel brass alloy was a deliberate cost-reduction measure introduced in the late 1930s as Belgium, like most European states, conserved strategic metals ahead of an anticipated conflict.