Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
10 Francs Léopard
| Issuer | Banque Centrale du Congo |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse presents a mirror image of the obverse design, as is characteristic of this type of transparent acrylic issue, with the leopard visible in profile walking to the left through the reverse face of the disc. The seated lion privy mark appears in the lower left field, and all legends — including the denomination '10 FRANCS', date '2004', and the circular inscription 'REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO' — are readable in reverse (mirror) script when viewed from this side, a natural optical consequence of the transparent plastic medium. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
One of the few polymer/acrylic circulation issues ever produced for sub-Saharan Africa, this piece came out of the DRC's post-war monetary reconstruction following the Second Congo War — a conflict that had effectively destroyed the country's formal economy. The Banque Centrale had already redenominated the franc in 1998, shedding four zeros from the collapsed zaïre-era currency, and these unusual acrylic issues represent an experimental phase in rebuilding physical coinage infrastructure when conventional minting relationships were difficult to sustain.
Acrylic coinage of this diameter is particularly prone to edge chipping with age.