2 Francs Piedfort, aluminium

Piedforts — coins struck on blanks of double or greater thickness — have been produced by the Monnaie de Paris since the medieval period, originally as presentation pieces for treasury officials to verify correct weight standards. The 1948 aluminium piedfort is an unusual specimen within that tradition: aluminium itself was chosen for regular French coinage in the postwar years largely because the country's metal reserves were depleted and the alloy was cheap and available, making a piedfort in the same material something of an institutional curiosity rather than a prestige object.