10 Francs World Trade Center Twin Towers

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has issued commemorative silver rounds under its own authority since the late 1990s, largely as a revenue mechanism targeting the collector market rather than domestic circulation. Most were struck by European contract mints and never appeared in Congolese commerce at all. This piece, issued five years after the September 11 attacks, belongs to a wave of international commemoratives produced across multiple issuing authorities in the mid-2000s that monetized the event for collector sales — a practice that generated criticism in numismatic circles at the time.