50 Francs Essai

Essais produced by the Monnaie de Paris were official trial strikes intended for governmental approval rather than circulation, which is why surviving examples are almost universally found in mint state — they were never meant to leave the hands of administrators and technicians. This particular piece belongs to a period of intensive monetary retooling under de Gaulle's Fifth Republic, when France was systematically modernizing its coinage infrastructure following the 1960 redenomination that had already lopped two zeros off the old franc.

Production numbers for Monnaie de Paris essais of this type were tightly restricted, typically in the low hundreds.