The BCEAC was itself a transitional institution — established after France reorganized the franc zone arrangements for its former equatorial territories, it issued coinage for a bloc that included Chad, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, and Cameroon. Essai pieces from this issuer are scarce precisely because the bank's independent coinage mandate was short-lived; the BCEAC was absorbed into the BEAC in 1973, leaving only a narrow window for trial strikes under this authority.
The BCEAC was itself a transitional institution — established after France reorganized the franc zone arrangements for its former equatorial territories, it issued coinage for a bloc that included Chad, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, and Cameroon. Essai pieces from this issuer are scarce precisely because the bank's independent coinage mandate was short-lived; the BCEAC was absorbed into the BEAC in 1973, leaving only a narrow window for trial strikes under this authority.