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1000 Francs CFA Sauvons le pays
| Issuer | Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (BCEAO) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1992 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1000 Francs CFA |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Five hands converging upward from the lower field to collectively support a decorative earthenware jar rendered in high relief at the centre of the coin. The scene symbolises collective national effort and solidarity. The legend REPUBLIQUE DU BENIN arcs along the upper periphery, and the motto SAUVONS LE PAYS (Save the Country) appears along the lower periphery, flanked by small six-pointed star ornaments on either side. |
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| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
The "Sauvons le pays" — "Save the country" — series was issued roughly eighteen months before the CFA franc's catastrophic January 1994 devaluation, in which France and the IMF jointly halved the currency's value overnight. That devaluation, the first in the CFA franc's entire postwar history, wiped out savings across eight West African nations simultaneously. Whether the title was prescient or coincidental is an open question, but the timing is difficult to ignore.
Struck for the collector market rather than circulation, these were never intended to function as monetary instruments in the countries whose central bank issued them.