5 Francs Swallowtail

The Democratic Republic of the Congo relaunched its coinage identity in 1997 following Laurent-Désiré Kabila's overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko, who had renamed the country Zaïre and debased its currency into near-worthlessness. By 2002, the DRC's mint program had pivoted almost entirely toward the collector market — these multicolor hologram issues were never intended for circulation and were sold directly to dealers and distributors in Europe.

KM#56 is part of a butterfly series produced for the numismatic trade. The hologram application was contracted separately from the coin striking itself, a two-stage production process common to novelty issues of this period from small-economy issuers.