Sapèque Essai, With hole, 'ESSAI'

French Cochinchina's bronze sapèque was designed to slot into an existing monetary culture where Chinese cash coins — pierced, strung in counted lots — had circulated for generations. The hole was not decorative; it was an economic concession to local trade practice. The 1879 essai represents the French administration testing that format before committing to production, a rare instance of a colonial power deliberately subordinating its minting conventions to indigenous commercial habit.

KM#E4 is a pattern issue, not a circulating strike. Very few were produced.