100 Dalasis Lions

The Gambia issued a series of oversized silver kilo coins in the mid-1990s targeting the collector market directly — a strategy common among small West African nations whose domestic economies offered little incentive for precious metal coinage. At one kilogram and 100mm across, this piece was never intended for anything resembling circulation; the entire mintage went straight into the hands of dealers and distributors, most of them European.

KM#45 is one of several large-format issues the Central Bank authorized during this period, largely through arrangements with external minting agencies.