Catalog
1 Zaïre Piefort Essai
| Issuer | Banque Nationale du Congo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1970 |
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| Diameter | 38 mm |
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| Obverse description | Central field displays the national coat of arms of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, featuring a leopard head effigy facing front, superimposed upon a crossed spear and a flaming torch, with a crescent below and flanking olive branches. A ribbon beneath bears the national motto in three parts: JUSTICE, PAIX, and TRAVAIL. The denomination 1 ZAÏRE is inscribed in large letters at the bottom of the field, with the word ESSAI appearing in small letters in the exergue. The circular Latin legend RÉPUBLIQUE DÉMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO runs along the upper periphery, all within a continuous beaded border. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | RÉPUBLIQUE DÉMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO JUSTICE PAIX TRAVAIL 1 ZAÏRE ESSAI |
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| Additional information |
The Banque Nationale du Congo issued this piefort essai in 1970, just a year after Mobutu Sese Seko renamed the currency from the franc to the zaïre — a rebranding inseparable from his broader campaign of "authenticité," which systematically purged colonial nomenclature from Congolese public life. Piefort essais of this type were struck in minimal quantities for archival and approval purposes, never intended for circulation.
The zaïre itself was set at parity with the US dollar at introduction, a rate that held only briefly before economic mismanagement and copper price collapses eroded it catastrophically through the 1970s.