15 mm diameter, 1 g, gilded bronze, flat edge denomination "1 BAN", year 1888, Romanian coat of arms, letter B and wheat ear, the signs of Romanian mint, outer pearl circle	inscription "CAROL I REGE AL ROMANIEI" meaning "KING OF ROMANIA" and CAROL I head facing left, outer pearl circle. Under the neck lies KULLRICH, the engraver's name.
15 mm diameter, 1 g, gilded bronze, flat edge denomination "1 BAN", year 1888, Romanian coat of arms, letter B and wheat ear, the signs of Romanian mint, outer pearl circle	inscription "CAROL I REGE AL ROMANIEI" meaning "KING OF ROMANIA" and CAROL I head facing left, outer pearl circle. Under the neck lies KULLRICH, the engraver's name.

The pictures of the first coin above are present on Romanian coins through the kind permission of Mr. C.C. from Germany.

The second 1 ban 1888 coin pictures above are present on Romanian coins through the kind permission of an anonymous donor. The coin was sold for over 900 euros on Ebay in May 2012.

The mintage figures for this gilded bronze coin is 500 pieces, after monograph Monede şi bancnote româneşti (Romanian Coins and Banknotes, Buzdugan G., Luchian O., Oprescu C., Sport-Turism Publishing House, Bucharest, 1977).

Monetele României (Coins of Romania, Iliescu O., Radovici P., Encyclopaedic Printing House, Bucharest, 2004) consider that these pieces are only tokens, and the mintage is unknown. The 1 ban 1888 pieces were distributed at several balls organized by the Royal House of Romania, in fund raising actions for charity. Such 1 ban coin could be obtained for 20 lei.

One variant was reported by monograph România. Proiecte, probe monetare şi catalogul monedelor emise (Schäffer E., Stambuliu B., vol. I, 1860-1989, 2009): bronze 1 ban 1888.

However, Mr C.C. from Germany signaled us that all pieces were gilded.

Of course, 1 ban 1888 can be considered to be a coin - a special one -, and not only because it was struck at State Mint of Romania. The case of this piece is resembling the one of the contemporary anniversary coins that are sold by the National Bank of Romania at prices much higher than the face value (even 50 - 100 times), and never enter into actual monetary circulation (in spite of the fact that, in theory, they can be used in payments).

Similar pieces with year 1888 also exist.

Above you can see the pictures of a rudimentary fake of the 1 ban piece of 1888, the pictures having been made available to Romanian coins by the kindness of Mr Adrian Popovici.