10 Francs African Crocodile

The Democratic Republic of the Congo adopted its current name in 1997 following Laurent-Désiré Kabila's overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko, who had renamed the country Zaire in 1971. This coin was issued just three years into that restored identity, during a period when Kabila's government was already under severe military pressure from Rwandan and Ugandan-backed rebel forces — the conflict that would become the Second Congo War. Bullion and collector issues like this one were among the few reliable foreign-currency earners available to the treasury at the time.