Catalog
2000 Bipkwele 1979 Spanish Royalty Visit; Pattern
| Issuer | Banco de Guinea Ecuatorial |
|---|---|
| Year | 1980 |
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| Orientation | Coin alignment ↑↓ |
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| Obverse description | The central field bears the national coat of arms of Equatorial Guinea, depicting a shield charged with a silk-cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra) above an open book, flanked by a scrolled ribbon bearing the national motto UNIDAD PAZ JUSTICIA in three segments. Six six-pointed stars arc above the shield, representing the mainland and island territories of the republic. The circumferential legend REPUBLICA DE GUINEA ECUATORIAL runs along the upper rim, while the denomination 2.000 BIPKWELE appears in large characters along the lower rim. The fineness mark 0.925 and the date 80 are positioned to the right and left of the shield respectively, within the inner bead border. |
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| Mintage | 1980 |
| Additional information |
Equatorial Guinea's monetary history in this period is a tangle of political upheaval and foreign dependency. Francisco Macías Nguema — whose brutal dictatorship had essentially collapsed the country's economy by the late 1970s — was overthrown in August 1979 by his nephew Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. The Spanish royal visit commemorated here, coming so soon after that coup, was part of Spain's careful diplomatic re-engagement with its former colony under the new regime.
As a pattern, this piece never entered circulation. At 10 grams in aluminium for a 39mm flan, the weight is unusually heavy for the metal — suggesting either a thick planchet or an experimental specification that was abandoned before any production run was authorized.