NEW CALEDONIA 1 FRANC 1982 UNC LIBERTY SITTING ON A THRONE FACING LEFT HOLDING A LIT TORCH IN THE LEFT HAND and assorted fruit in a cornucopia in a bend of the right arm,FRENCH OVERSEAS TERRITORY,Script:Latin,Lettering:REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE I·E· O·M·G.B.BAZOR,Translation:French Republic,Reverse,Kagu bird within sprigs below value,Script:Latin,Lettering:1 FRANC NOUVELLE CALEDONIE,Translation:1 Franc New Caledonia,Edge,Smooth,Mints;Yves Sampo, Head of the engraving department, Monnaie de Paris (2011-2020)   

(F.O.P FRENCH OVERSEAS TERRITORY)

  Settled by both Britain and France during the first half of the 19th century, the island was made a French possession in 1853. It served as a penal colony for four decades after 1864. Agitation for independence during the 1980s and early 1990s ended in the 1998 Noumea Accord, which over a period of 15 to 20 years will transfer an increasing amount of governing responsibility from France to New Caledonia. The agreement also commits France to conduct as many as three referendum between 2013 and 2018, to decide whether New Caledonia should assume full sovereignty and independence.