A pattern beauty with a mintage of 500 coins

I have been scouring auction sites and the BAY for the past 3-4 months looking for the perfect example of the 1950 Monaco design for my horse-themed set. This design is absolutely beautiful, and features a highly detailed horse on rider on the reverse. In the process of researching this design, I learned a thing or two about the types of this coin available.

A couple of the coins I found were listed as being "ESSAI" coins. This essentially boils down to the word used by French speaking countries to denote a "Pattern" coin. These strikes are limited to very small mintages, and they are generally struck in a precious metal. About 2 weeks ago, a seller from Greece posted an entire selection of these ESSAI beauties on the BAY in high grades. The one I decided on was the 100 Franc SP65 coin shown below. It is struck in Silver and bears the small text "ESSAI" beneath the horse on the reverse. The total "Essai" mintage of this coin is a mere 500 coins!!! The Cupro-Nickel circulation version of this coin was struck in a mintage of 500,000 coins...quite a difference.

As usual, I will post a larger version of the photo on the Chat Boards so you can get a better look at the Reverse Design detail.

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SIDE NOTE: I couldn't resist the curiosity of also purchasing a "Piefort Essai" example of the 50 Franc coin. "Pieforts" are again pattern type coins, struck usually in twice the normal weight and thickness as the circulation coins. In the case of this one (and maybe for all "Pieforts"?), the orientation of the coin is medal orientation instead of coin orientation. I haven't photographed that one yet, but I will also likely add this example to my horse-themed set side by side with the one shown here.

I hope everyone is having a good week.

All the best,

-Brandon

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