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5 Francs Belgium - Prince Laurent and Princess Claire
| Issuer | Banque Centrale du Congo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1999 |
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| Currency | Franc (1998-date) |
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| Obverse description | A fine relief lion's head facing left, with flowing mane and open mouth, is depicted at center within a raised inner circle. An intermediate ring carries the circular legend REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO around the lion's portrait. The broad outer border bears the issuing authority BANQUE CENTRALE at top, the denomination 5 FRANCS at bottom, the date split 19 / 99 at left and right, and four five-pointed stars evenly spaced around the circumference. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A multicolor portrait of Prince Laurent of Belgium and Princess Claire of Belgium is depicted facing forward within a raised inner circle, rendered in vivid polychrome enamel applied to the recessed field. The surrounding border carries the legend MAISONS ROYALES D'EUROPE DES SIECLES DERNIERS above and MAISON ROYALE DE BELGIQUE below, with the subjects' names PRINCE LAURENT ET PRINCESSE CLAIRE inscribed across the middle band of the outer ring. |
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| Additional information |
This piece belongs to a wave of Democratic Republic of Congo fantasy issues from the late 1990s — collector-market coins with no meaningful circulation history, struck under licensing arrangements that had little to do with the Banque Centrale du Congo's actual monetary operations. Prince Laurent of Belgium and his then-fiancée Claire Coombs were married in April 2003, making a 1999 issue a prospective commemorative minted four years before the event it nominally marks.
The DRC was in the middle of the Second Congo War when this was struck.