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50 Cents Pattern

Issuer Monnaie de Paris
Year 1946
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Value 50 Cents (0.50 ICFP)
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Obverse description Seated allegorical figure of Marianne, radiate-crowned and draped in classical robes, facing left upon a stone plinth, holding an upright fasces in her right hand. A palm frond or sheaf of vegetation appears to the lower left of the figure, while an anchor is visible at the lower right. The curved legend REPUBLIQUE to the left and FRANCAISE to the right flanks the figure along the periphery, with a beaded border encircling the entire field. The date 1946 appears in the exergue, flanked by the engraver's signature BARRE to the left and the essai designation ESSAI to the right.
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Mintage 1946 - Essai - 1,100
Additional information

France in 1946 was scrambling to rebuild a coherent monetary system after four years of Vichy-era coinage and German occupation. This pattern was struck by the Monnaie de Paris as part of a broader postwar evaluation of denominations and alloys — copper-nickel was being reconsidered after wartime aluminum issues had eroded public confidence in coinage as a medium. The 50-centime denomination itself was ultimately not revived in this form; France moved forward with different compositional choices, leaving this piece as a dead-end trial.

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