The Republic of the Congo issued this piece as part of the wave of millennium-themed commemoratives that flooded the market in the late 1990s, many produced under licensing arrangements with European minting houses targeting collector rather than circulation demand. The Congo-Brazzaville issues of this period are notable for their sheer volume — dozens of thematic types struck in a country whose own monetary policy was governed entirely by the BEAC, the central bank shared across six Franc CFA zone states.
Actual distribution into Congolese commerce was never the intent.
The Republic of the Congo issued this piece as part of the wave of millennium-themed commemoratives that flooded the market in the late 1990s, many produced under licensing arrangements with European minting houses targeting collector rather than circulation demand. The Congo-Brazzaville issues of this period are notable for their sheer volume — dozens of thematic types struck in a country whose own monetary policy was governed entirely by the BEAC, the central bank shared across six Franc CFA zone states.
Actual distribution into Congolese commerce was never the intent.