Belgian Congo's first coinage was authorized in 1887 under the Congo Free State — Leopold II's personal possession, not a Belgian colony — but the 1909 issue appeared in the final year of his reign, after international outrage over rubber quota atrocities had already forced the transfer of the territory to the Belgian state in 1908. This coin therefore carries the king's effigy under a colonial authority he no longer personally controlled; he died in December 1909.
Belgian Congo's first coinage was authorized in 1887 under the Congo Free State — Leopold II's personal possession, not a Belgian colony — but the 1909 issue appeared in the final year of his reign, after international outrage over rubber quota atrocities had already forced the transfer of the territory to the Belgian state in 1908. This coin therefore carries the king's effigy under a colonial authority he no longer personally controlled; he died in December 1909.