10 Cents FAO

Issued under the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization coin program, which ran from the late 1960s through the 1980s and recruited developing nations to mint thematic pieces promoting agricultural self-sufficiency. Seychelles participated at a moment when the islands were barely a decade removed from British colonial administration, having gained independence in 1976 and then enduring a coup in 1977 that brought France-Albert René to power under a single-party socialist government.

The FAO program's brass specifications often diverged from a country's domestic coinage alloys, and this piece is no exception — the standard Seychelles 10 cents of the period was struck in cupro-nickel.