Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Francs Archaeopteryx
| Issuer | Banque Centrale du Congo |
|---|---|
| Year | 2021 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver (.9999) |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse features the national coat of arms of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, depicting a leopard's head facing forward flanked by an elephant tusk on the right and a spear on the left, all set on a decorative plinth bearing the motto PAIX, with JUSTICE to the left and TRAVAIL to the right. The circular legend REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO runs along the upper rim. The denomination 20 FRANCS appears in the lower field, accompanied by the fineness and weight notation 1 oz Ag 999.9. The design is executed in high relief against a polished field, giving the coin a proof-like appearance. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Latin |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Democratic Republic of Congo has become one of the more prolific issuers of themed collector silver in the modern era, producing wildlife and paleontology series almost exclusively for the European numismatic market — this piece has no meaningful circulation history in Kinshasa. The Archaeopteryx itself was first described by Hermann von Meyer in 1861 from the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, arriving in scientific literature just two years after Darwin's On the Origin of Species and immediately seized upon as physical evidence of avian evolution from theropod dinosaurs.
The .9999 fineness is atypical for struck silver coins of this weight class, where .999 is far more common.