1500 Francs CFA Euro Introduction

Issued to mark the euro's introduction on January 1, 2002, this piece was struck for a West African nation whose actual currency — the CFA franc — was entirely unaffected by the changeover. Benin has used the West African CFA franc since 1945, pegged first to the French franc and, after 1999, to the euro by inherited treaty obligation. The coin commemorates a monetary event that touched Benin only at one administrative remove.