Essai Coins from Lebanon

Lebanon, while under the French Protectorate, had its coins minted by the French authorities. As such, the practice to mint ESSAI coins was common. These are essentially pattern or trial coins, which look identical to the business strike but have the word ESSAI on the obverse or reverse. While in later years, ESSAI coins were purposefully minted for coin collectors, the early ones remain scarce if not rare and very desirable.

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