Essai 2 Sous 1792

This Essai 2 Sous of 1792 was struck in copper at the Paris Mint as an early trial for France's decimal currency reform, amid the revolutionary turmoil that saw kings toppled and mints scrambling.

That makes it a rare snapshot of fiscal experimentation during a year when the nation was redefining itself. The coin features a simple design—likely the liberty cap and fasces—on a flan that might have been recycled from older metals, though records don't specify the source. We know production was limited, but exact numbers vanished in the archives' chaos, possibly during later upheavals.

I've seen fakes passed off as genuine, which is about as surprising as finding counterfeit assignats in a revolutionary attic.