Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1000 Francs Rothschild Prayerbook
| Issuer | Bank of Central African States (BEAC) |
|---|---|
| Year | 2018 |
| Type | Non-circulating coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse is designed in the form of an open hardcover book viewed from the outside, with the spine rendered in high relief at the center dividing two panels. Each panel is framed by elaborate gilt acanthus-leaf scrollwork at the corners, accented by circular rosette bosses at regular intervals along the borders, evoking the decorative binding of a medieval illuminated manuscript. The left panel displays a finely detailed sprig of botanical flora in relief against a mirror-polished field, with the fineness mark 'Ag 999' inscribed in the upper left and the date '2018' in the lower portion. The right panel bears the issuing authority legend 'REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN' and the denomination '1000 FRANCS CFA' in Gothic-style lettering against a proof field. The mint mark 'mw' of the Mint of Poland appears discretely on the obverse. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | 2018 mw - Proof - 999 |
| Additional information |
The "Rothschild Prayerbook" takes its name from a celebrated illuminated manuscript produced in Flanders around 1505–1510, commissioned for wealthy Flemish patrons and later acquired by the Rothschild banking family in the nineteenth century. It eventually passed through auction at Christie's London in 1999, where it sold for £8.5 million — then a record for any manuscript at auction. The BEAC's decision to reference it on a commemorative issue is purely commercial: the Central African franc zone has no historical or cultural connection to the manuscript whatsoever.
These rectangular-format silver pieces were struck for the collector market, not circulation, under licensing arrangements common to BEAC's modern numismatic program.