Belgian Congo's copper centimes of this decade were struck at a moment when the colony had just been wrested from Leopold II's personal ownership — his private Congo Free State, notorious for forced labor and systematic mutilation of workers who failed rubber quotas, was transferred to the Belgian state in 1908 under intense international pressure. The new colonial administration needed its own coinage immediately, and these small coppers were among the first issues under Crown authority.
KM#15 is sometimes found with weakly defined rims on the reverse, a known characteristic of the Brussels mint's production run for this type rather than post-mint wear.
Belgian Congo's copper centimes of this decade were struck at a moment when the colony had just been wrested from Leopold II's personal ownership — his private Congo Free State, notorious for forced labor and systematic mutilation of workers who failed rubber quotas, was transferred to the Belgian state in 1908 under intense international pressure. The new colonial administration needed its own coinage immediately, and these small coppers were among the first issues under Crown authority.
KM#15 is sometimes found with weakly defined rims on the reverse, a known characteristic of the Brussels mint's production run for this type rather than post-mint wear.