1000 Francs CFA Lion

The Republic of the Congo issued a series of wildlife-themed silver pieces in the late 1990s, primarily targeting the collector and bullion markets rather than domestic circulation. These were produced under licensing arrangements common among smaller francophone African states, with actual minting handled by European facilities rather than any Congolese infrastructure.

KM#66 corresponds to a period when the country was emerging from the 1997 civil war that returned Denis Sassou Nguesso to power — a conflict that effectively halted normal administrative function for much of that year.