20 Francs Skunk

The "Skunk" nickname in numismatic circles refers to the striped reverse design, but the real story here is institutional: the Banque Centrale du Congo issued a series of small-format gold pieces in the early 2000s during a period when the DRC was emerging from the devastating Second Congo War, a conflict that had fractured the country's monetary infrastructure entirely. These issues were not intended for domestic circulation — they were produced for the international bullion and collector market, effectively generating hard currency revenue while the national banking system was still being reconstituted.