1000 Francos CFA San Gottardo

Equatorial Guinea joined the CFA franc zone in 1985, an unusual admission given that the country is the only Spanish-speaking member of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community — a bloc otherwise composed entirely of former French colonies. The San Gottardo issue is part of a broader run of foreign-themed commemoratives produced for the international collector market during the 1990s, a period when the Banco de los Estados de África Central authorized numerous such strikes with minimal domestic circulation intent.

The San Gottardo tunnel, connecting the Swiss cantons of Uri and Ticino through the Alps, opened in 1882 after eleven years of construction and the deaths of approximately 200 workers.