Abolition Of Slavery Series

Whatever the case in general regarding essais, for your coin in particular, I'm afraid their "realness" is in question. Here is the listing for it in the NGC database. If you look up at the coin's heading, you'll see it has the catalogue number "X# E2". "E" is for essai, but "X" numbers mean the coin is listed in the "Unusual World Coins" catalogue, rather than the mainstream Krause catalogues. This in turn usually means that they are not, and never were, "legal tender" coins of the Ivory Coast.

As with neighbouring Liberia, Ivory Coast is the victim of "blood diamonds"; it has been in a state of more or less perpetual three-way civil war since 2002 between government forces, rebel forces and foreign peacekeepers. It has been difficult at times determining exactly who is the "legitimate government" of the country. Foreign mints, particularly in America, benefit from situations such as this; they can issue "coins" in the name of Ivory Coast, and there's nobody can say whether they really are coins or not. I do not know which mint made your coin, but it appears that nobody actually in Ivory Coast is aware of their existence.