Ivory Coast has issued numismatic pieces under CFA franc denominations since the early 2000s as a vehicle for large-format collector silver, a practice that has drawn consistent criticism from the Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, which holds actual monetary authority over the franc zone. The denomination is nominal — no 10,000 CFA coin has ever circulated.
At one kilogram of .999 silver pressed into a 275 × 395 mm rectangular slab, this piece reproduces detail from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, completed in 1512 after four years of work commissioned by Pope Julius II. The format mimics a tradition of oversized rectangular "coin-medals" pioneered by the Cook Islands and Niue programs in the 2010s.
Ivory Coast has issued numismatic pieces under CFA franc denominations since the early 2000s as a vehicle for large-format collector silver, a practice that has drawn consistent criticism from the Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, which holds actual monetary authority over the franc zone. The denomination is nominal — no 10,000 CFA coin has ever circulated.
At one kilogram of .999 silver pressed into a 275 × 395 mm rectangular slab, this piece reproduces detail from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, completed in 1512 after four years of work commissioned by Pope Julius II. The format mimics a tradition of oversized rectangular "coin-medals" pioneered by the Cook Islands and Niue programs in the 2010s.