1000 Francs CFA Amerigo Vespucci

Benin's CFA-denominated silver issues from the mid-2000s were produced almost exclusively for the collector export market, bearing no practical relationship to the West African CFA franc in daily circulation. The country had been issuing thematic collector pieces under foreign licensing arrangements since the 1990s, a practice common among smaller UEMOA member states looking to generate hard currency revenue without touching monetary policy.

Vespucci's name was attached to the American continents by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in 1507 — a decision Waldseemüller himself later regretted and attempted to reverse, without success.