50 Centimes Essai de Morlon en bronze-alu, hybride

The "hybride" designation here is the critical detail. This essai pairs the Morlon obverse — introduced for the circulating 50 centimes series beginning in 1931 — with a reverse die not belonging to the standard production type, a pairing almost certainly assembled from available working dies during trial striking rather than by deliberate design intent. Gayrard's reference number confirms this as a recognized configuration rather than an accidental mule.

Morlon's allegorical figure had itself replaced the Lindauer type after decades of circulation, part of a broader French monetary retooling in the early Third Republic's final stretch. Essais in aluminium bronze were struck to test the alloy's behavior under die pressure before committing to full production runs.