5 Girush / Syrian Piastres Essai

Greater Lebanon was proclaimed by French General Gouraud in September 1920, carved out of the former Ottoman province of Syria under the League of Nations mandate. France moved quickly to establish a distinct monetary identity for the new entity, separate from the Syrian currency zone, commissioning trial pieces in Paris before any circulation coinage was authorized. This essai is part of that exploratory phase — struck by the Monnaie de Paris as a technical and political proof of concept rather than for any commercial purpose.

The aluminium bronze composition was under active evaluation across multiple French mandate territories simultaneously in the early 1920s.