100 Francs Independence

Struck to commemorate the eighth anniversary of Senegalese independence from France in 1960, this issue belongs to a wave of gold commemoratives produced by newly sovereign African nations during the 1960s — many of them struck at the Paris Mint under contract, targeting the international collector market rather than domestic circulation. Senegal had neither the mint infrastructure nor the foreign reserve base to justify a domestic gold coinage at this scale.

Mintages for this series were tightly controlled and never released in full by the issuing authority.