You know the U.S., Canada and Japan had to vary the composition of their coinage during WWII, but do you know the difficulties that arose for France during this time? A new government was formed in Vichy, France and it immediately allied itself with the occupying Germans. The, for some unknown reason, U.S. recognized this new Vichy government. Now remember, France held territories all over the world and struck the coinage for those protectorates. French Indo-China (now the nations of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) became a problem. Because of the Japanese invasion people began hoarding coins so coins for commerce and trade became scarce. In 1940 the Paris Mint, needing copper for their war effort, struck zinc one-centime coins featuring a Pyrgian cap (liberty cap). After France fell to the Germans June 30, 1940, the French Indo-China government, located in Hanoi, persuaded an engineering college (Ecole Pratique) to strike zinc one-centime coins. They crudely (weak reliefs) made both 1940 and 1941 pieces. KM 24.3 in the Krause World Coin Catalog. Early in 1941 (before the attack on Pearl Harbor) before we entered into war with the Japanese a contract was entered into with the U.S. to strike 10 and 20 centimes coins. They bear San Francisco's "S" mintmark. KM21.1a and KM23.a2. Hanoi fell to the Japanese on December 7, 1941 (same day as the Pearl Harber attack) so no more one centime coins by the engineering college. The Japanese government had the Osaka Mint strike 1/4-centime coins dated 1942 (KM25). With the U.S. involvement in the war, things started to deteriorate for the Japanese so very few of the 1/4-cent coins reached Indo-China. In 1943 the Japanese occupation forces in Hanoi authorized Ecole Pratique to strike one and five-centimes coins. KM26 and KM27 NOTE: you can tell the difference between the Vichy issues and the non-Vichy issues. The Vichy issues (including Osaka and Ecole Pratique) have the Legend ETATS FRANCAISE and the others carry the Legend REPUBLIQUE FRANCAIS. I don't know of any other college being asked to strike any legal tender coins. Do you? Clinker.
