1000 Bipkwele Juan Carlos I Royal Visit; Trial Strike; Silver

Juan Carlos I made a state visit to Equatorial Guinea in 1979, a remarkable diplomatic gesture toward a country that had only recently emerged from the brutal eleven-year dictatorship of Francisco Macías Nguema, whose regime had massacred or driven into exile roughly a third of the population. Spain's interest in reestablishing ties was partly strategic, partly humanitarian — Macías had been executed by firing squad just months before the king's arrival.

This trial strike in .925 silver was never released for general circulation. Such essai-type pieces from Equatorial Guinea's early post-Macías period were produced in extremely limited quantities, primarily for archival and diplomatic purposes.