1000 Francs Gorilla and infant

The Bank of Central African States — the BEAC — serves six member nations simultaneously, which creates an unusual monetary arrangement where a single central bank issues currency for Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. This coin, however, is a collector issue rather than circulating currency, produced under the broader wave of wildlife-themed silver rounds that African monetary authorities began licensing aggressively in the 2000s, often through European minting intermediaries with only nominal ties to the issuing nation.

Western lowland gorilla populations in the BEAC member states — particularly in Gabon and the Republic of the Congo — represent the largest remaining concentrations of the subspecies.