Catalog
200 Francs CFA Acanthopholis
| Issuer | Benin (1975-date) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1994 |
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| Weight | 12.8 g |
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| Obverse description | Central field bears the quartered coat of arms of the Republic of Benin, supported on either side by leopards rampant, with a scroll below bearing the national motto in the legend FRATERNITE JUSTICE TRAVAIL. The circular legend REPUBLIQUE DU BENIN runs along the upper periphery, while the denomination 200 FRANCS CFA is inscribed in the lower field beneath the arms. |
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| Reverse lettering | ANIMAUX PRÉHISTORIQUES 1994 ACANTHOPHOLIS |
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| Additional information |
Benin issued a series of wildlife-themed copper-nickel pieces in the early 1990s ostensibly as legal tender, but they were produced in limited quantities by European minting contractors and sold primarily through the philatelic and numismatic trade rather than circulated domestically. The CFA franc itself — the currency of the zone — was and remains controlled by the Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, meaning individual member states have virtually no independent monetary authority over circulating coinage.
Acanthopholis was a mid-Cretaceous ankylosaur known only from fragmentary English material, which makes its appearance on a West African collector piece a curiously arbitrary choice.