23 mm diameter, 5 g, silver 83.5%, copper 16.5%, grained edge, outer pearl circle denomination * 1 LEU *, the inscription "CAROL I DOMNUL ROMANIEI" meaning "PRINCE OF ROMANIA" and prince CAROL I (with side whiskers) facing left. The side whiskers are barely visible even on excelent pieces. Under the neck lies A MICHAUX, the engraver's name.	years * 1866 - 1906 *, the inscription "CAROL I REGE AL ROMANIEI" meaning "KING OF ROMANIA" and king CAROL I facing left, outer pearl circle. Under the neck lies A. M. standing for A. Michaux, the engraver's name. Mintage: 2.500.000 coins.
Under the neck lies A. MICHAUX, the engraver's name.

The uncirculated silver coins pictures above are present on Romanian coins through the kind permission of an anonymous donor.

In the monograph Monede şi bancnote româneşti (Romanian coins and banknotes, by Buzdugan, Luchian and Oprescu, 1977) the signature of the engraver Alphonse Michaux (1860-1928, chief engraver of the Brussels Mint between 1895 and 1926) placed under the effigy of the young prince Carol is noted to be A.Michaux, with a point after "A". Mr Cristian Ciuplea informed us that 1 leu coins from 1906 have two variants. Only approximately 10% of coins have a point after A standing for Alphonse (as on the coin presented firstly on this page), the rest being without point (as on the coin presented secondly on this page). In the picture at right a detailed view of a coin with dot after A is presented. The coin belonged to the former C.C. collection.

The silver and gold coins struck in 1906 were issued to celebrate the fortieth year of reign for king Carol I of Romania. Minted in Brussels, they were designed by Alphonse Michaux.

This highly impressive coin set features the following values: 1 leu, 5 lei, 12 1/2 lei, 20 lei, 25 lei, 50 lei and 100 lei. To the best of our knowledge, these coins circulated effectively, the lesser ones at least. Part of the silver coins of 1906 were struck with silver from older used coins that were melted (face value of melted coins: 1.700.000 lei - information from Mr. J. M.).

The forty years of reign of Carol I were also celebrated through a ten value philatelic issue. Below is one postal stamp picturing Carol in 1866 and in 1906.