10 Francs The yacht America

The schooner America crossed the Atlantic in 1851 and defeated seventeen Royal Yacht Squadron vessels around the Isle of Wight, prompting Queen Victoria to ask who had come in second — the answer, famously, was "Your Majesty, there is no second." The trophy she won became the America's Cup, the oldest international sporting trophy still contested. Congo's inclusion of this subject in its commemorative program reflects the broad licensing market of the late 1990s, when dozens of small or economically marginal nations issued silver pieces tied to international sporting and historical themes largely for collector export rather than any domestic circulation.