5 Francs trial of Louis-Oscar Roty

Louis-Oscar Roty is best remembered for the Semeuse — the sowing figure he designed in 1887 that would dominate French coinage for decades — but this 1898 trial piece represents his unsuccessful bid to extend that aesthetic to the 5 Franc denomination. The Third Republic never adopted it for circulation; monetary conservatism and the sheer cost of retooling production for a coin of this size kept the design in the essai category.

Roty was a médailleur first, and the ambition of his relief work consistently complicated mass production.