1000 Nouveaux Zaïres Common Hippopotamus

Zaïre ceased to exist as a country within months of this coin's issue. Mobutu Sese Seko's kleptocratic regime, which had renamed both the nation and its currency, collapsed in May 1997 when Laurent-Désiré Kabila's forces took Kinshasa. The country was immediately renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo, rendering the Banque du Zaïre and its "nouveaux zaïres" — themselves a 1993 redenomination that had failed to arrest hyperinflation — instantly obsolete.

This piece was almost certainly struck for export to collector markets rather than any domestic monetary function. The nouveau zaïre had lost essentially all practical value before the mint order was even placed.