French Colony silver Proof Essai Piastre 19___ (1931) PR63 NGC, Paris mint, KM-Unl., VG-5307, Maz-Unl., Gad-35, Lec-276. Reeded edge. Coin alignment. By Barre. A coveted and exceedingly popular French Essai type, which elevates the already beloved imagery of French Indo-China's Trade Piastres to a new level of both rarity and desirability. Only the fourth such example we have handled, and likely the last "attainable" certification for the issue as one moves up the grading scale behind the PR67★ we sold in July 2020, this piece is filled to the brim with gorgeous turquoise and sapphire color, draped carefully over hard mirror fields. Posited by most reference works to have been produced for the 6-month-long Colonial Exposition (Exposition coloniale internationale) in Paris in 1931, we note that in his most recent work, Monnaies et Jetons de L'Indochine française, Jean Lecompte has reassigned it a date of 1920, though he provides no explanation for this revision.

HID09801242017

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