5 Lepta - George I Pattern

Obverse description	Bare-headed youthful effigy of King George I facing left, with finely engraved hair swept back, rendered in high relief in the neoclassical style of the Paris Mint engraver Barre. The circular legend reads ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ Α! ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ (George I, King of the Greeks) in Greek characters, running along the beaded border. The engraver's signature BARRE appears in small letters in the lower field, with the date 1869 prominently placed in the exergue.
Obverse script	Greek
Obverse lettering	Log in to see details
Reverse description	Log in to see details
Reverse script	Log in to see details
Reverse lettering	Log in to see details
Edge	Log in to see details
Mint	Log in to see details
Mintage	Log in to see details
Additional information	Greece's 1869 coinage experiments came during a period of intense monetary negotiation — the country had joined the Latin Monetary Union that same year, and pattern strikes were produced to test designs and specifications before committing to full production runs. KM#E6 is among several essai-type pieces from this exercise, struck in copper to evaluate the 5 lepta module. Most patterns from this series ended up in institutional collections or with contemporary officials rather than entering any kind of commercial circulation. Surviving examples are genuinely rare. The Greek monetary authorities of this period were not in the habit of preserving patterns systematically.