100 Francs Independence, essai

Niger's independence from France was declared on August 3, 1960. This essai — a trial strike produced for official approval rather than circulation — was almost certainly made at the Paris Mint, which retained production contracts with most of its former West African territories well into the post-independence decades. Essais of this type were typically struck in extremely limited numbers, often fewer than a dozen examples, for presentation to government officials and monetary authorities.

The .900 fine gold specification mirrors French metropolitan coinage standards of the period, a deliberate continuity at a moment of political rupture.