1000 Francs CFA Lion

Togo's franc CFA issues of this period were struck by a handful of European mints catering to the wave of small-nation commemorative programs that flooded the collector market in the late 1990s. Most had no connection to actual Togolese monetary policy — the country's circulating currency was managed collectively through the BCEAO, the West African central bank, making these high-silver pieces essentially licensing arrangements sold abroad.

KM#42 is a product of that market, not of Lomé.