20 000 Francs CFA Operation Bokassa

This coin was struck to commemorate Jean-Bédel Bokassa's seizure of power on January 1, 1966, when he overthrew President David Dacko in a bloodless coup. The four-year lag between the coup and this issue reflects the time it took Bokassa to consolidate enough political authority — and find enough foreign exchange — to commission a prestige gold series at all. France's Monnaie de Paris struck the pieces under contract.

Bokassa would crown himself Emperor eight years later in a ceremony that reportedly cost $30 million, roughly a quarter of the country's annual GDP.