5 Francs - Mohammed V Piedfort Essai

Piéforts — struck at double or greater thickness on specially prepared planchets — were a French mint tradition used for official presentation and archival purposes, and the Paris Mint extended this practice to its colonial and protectorate issues. Morocco's 1946 piéfort essais were produced as trial and record pieces, not for circulation, at a moment when France's postwar monetary reorganization was reshuffling currency arrangements across its territories. Mohammed V had by this point been sultan for over a decade, though French administrative control over coin production remained absolute until independence a decade later.