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Sapeque Pattern
| Issuer | Monnaie de Paris |
|---|---|
| Year | 1887 |
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| Currency | Piastre (1880-1952) |
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| Obverse description | Central square perforation, a traditional feature derived from Chinese cash coinage, surrounded by a raised square border within a plain field. The legend INDO-CHINE FRANÇAISE arcs around the upper periphery, with the date 1887 positioned below the central hole, flanked by two small mint differents. The design is rendered in a clean, incuse style consistent with Parisian engraving practice of the period. |
|---|---|
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| Mint | Monnaie de Paris, Paris (and Pessac starting 1973), France (864-date) |
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| Additional information |
The sapeque was France's attempt to rationalize coinage in Cochinchina and Tonkin by replacing the cast zinc cash coins that had circulated there for centuries. This 1887 pattern was struck at Paris as a proposed substitute — never adopted. The local population's deep familiarity with the traditional holed cash format, and the practical role those coins played in stringing together for larger transactions, made Western-style struck coinage a difficult sell at the lowest denomination level.
The pattern status here is unambiguous: KM#E1 and Lec#1 both confirm this as a essai, produced in very small quantities for evaluation purposes only.