5 Francs - International monetary commission

The 1873 date places this coin at the heart of the Latin Monetary Union's push toward a unified international coinage system. That year, France hosted an international monetary conference with the explicit ambition of establishing a world currency — a single coin acceptable across sovereign borders. This 5 francs piece was struck as a formal proposal piece within that framework, not for ordinary circulation.

The conference ultimately collapsed over the silver question, as the U.S. and Britain refused to commit to a bimetallic standard. No international coinage system emerged.