Catalog
20 Centimes - Léopold II
| Issuer | Congo Free State (1885-1908) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1906-1908 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | The central field features five interlaced royal monograms of Léopold II, each formed by the intertwined letters 'L' and 'II', radiating symmetrically around the central hole. Four of the monograms are surmounted by a royal crown, while the fifth, positioned at the bottom, bears a mantle or ermine symbol beneath it. The entire design is enclosed within a beaded inner circle. The surrounding legend reads 'LEOP.II R.D.BELGES SOUV.DE L'ETAT INDEP.DU CONGO', with a small five-pointed star at the base of the outer legend, all framed by a milled border. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The central field displays a large, finely detailed five-pointed star with radiating lines and dotted relief work filling its surface, centered on the round hole of the coin. Six small five-pointed stars are evenly spaced around the lower periphery of the inner field. The denomination '20 C.es' appears in the upper portion of the field, flanking the top point of the star, and the date appears in the exergue at the base. The entire design is framed by a beaded inner border and a milled outer edge. |
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| Additional information |
The Congo Free State was not a colony in any conventional administrative sense — it was the personal property of Léopold II, registered to him privately at the 1885 Berlin Conference while the Belgian state itself had no formal role. Coins issued under this authority were therefore instruments of a private commercial enterprise, the proceeds of which funded an extraction regime in rubber and ivory that the Red Cross and foreign journalists were already documenting as catastrophic by the time this issue was struck.
Production of this type ran only through 1908, the year Belgian parliament forcibly annexed the territory following sustained international pressure, ending Léopold's personal sovereignty over the region.