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50 Francs Piedfort Essai
| Issuer | Monnaie de Paris |
|---|---|
| Year | 1949 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Left-facing laureate bust of Marianne, the allegorical personification of the French Republic, wearing an olive wreath and a draped veil. Her hair falls in styled waves beneath the wreath. The engraver's signature P. TURIN appears in small characters below the bust near the lower rim. The surrounding legend REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE arcs around the periphery, separated from the central design by a fine denticled inner border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Piedfort essais from the Monnaie de Paris in this period were produced as struck specimens for official evaluation, not for circulation — their doubled thickness was a deliberate convention allowing die engravers and mint authorities to assess relief depth and metal flow before committing to production dies. The 1949 date places this piece in the immediate postwar monetary reconstruction, when France was still negotiating the practical realities of a debased coinage system under severe metal constraints imposed by occupation-era policy.
The KM#PE2 designation confirms this as a recognized piedfort type rather than a pattern curiosity, though surviving population figures remain thin.