Issued the year of Diana's death, this piece is one of dozens of commemorative gold miniatures released by African and Pacific island nations throughout the late 1990s — jurisdictions with no historical connection to the subject, issuing purely for the collector market. Sierra Leone was itself in the grip of a brutal civil war in 1997, the RUF having taken Freetown briefly that May. The Bank of Sierra Leone's nominal involvement was licensing paperwork; actual production was handled by private minting firms operating under contract.
Issued the year of Diana's death, this piece is one of dozens of commemorative gold miniatures released by African and Pacific island nations throughout the late 1990s — jurisdictions with no historical connection to the subject, issuing purely for the collector market. Sierra Leone was itself in the grip of a brutal civil war in 1997, the RUF having taken Freetown briefly that May. The Bank of Sierra Leone's nominal involvement was licensing paperwork; actual production was handled by private minting firms operating under contract.