25 Centimes - Muhammad V

Tunisia's protectorate coinage of this period occupied an awkward administrative space — French authorities controlled monetary policy while the Husainid bey retained nominal sovereignty, meaning coins were issued in his name under French supervision. Muhammad V (Muhammad al-Nasir) was bey from 1906 until his death in 1922, a reign that spanned the entirety of World War I, during which North African labor and resources were heavily mobilized for the French war effort. The nickel brass composition reflects wartime metal rationing, as nickel alone was diverted to military production across the French empire from 1914 onward.