1000 Francs CFA Elephant of Benin

The BCEAO issues coinage on behalf of eight West African member states, but the coins themselves are rarely intended for circulation within those economies — Benin's elephant series is a collector product aimed squarely at the European and North American bullion and numismatic markets. The franc CFA itself has been pegged to the French franc, and later the euro, since 1948, a monetary arrangement that has drawn persistent criticism from African economists and politicians as a form of continued French financial control.

KM#84 is one of several wildlife-themed one-ounce silver issues the BCEAO authorized through this period, struck by private mints under license rather than at any facility within the issuing states themselves.