1000 Francs CFA Wheatfield with Crows

This piece belongs to a broader genre of African-issued art coins produced not for domestic circulation but almost entirely for the European collector market — a trade that accelerated sharply after 2010 as mint contractors sought new licensing arrangements with smaller francophone nations. Gabon's participation in these programs is purely commercial; the CFA franc itself is managed by the Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale, and Gabon exercises no independent monetary policy that would motivate a domestic commemorative program of this kind.

The Van Gogh licensing angle is the commercial engine here. Painted in Auvers-sur-Oise in July 1890, within weeks of the artist's death.