50 Cents Pattern

France's monetary administration commissioned a series of copper pattern pieces in the mid-1930s as part of broader deliberations over reforming the fractional coinage system — deliberations that were repeatedly stalled by the political instability of successive Popular Front governments. This particular piece never advanced to regular production.

The Lec#260a designation places it within Lecompte's cataloguing of French patterns, where attribution often hinges on metal variant alone. Copper survivors are genuinely rare; most pattern strikings from the Monnaie de Paris in this period were produced in tiny quantities for internal evaluation or ministerial review, not collector distribution.