5 Francs Toucan

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's novelty coinage program of the late 1990s and early 2000s was driven almost entirely by export — these pieces were struck for the international collector market, not for any meaningful domestic circulation. The country had just emerged from the First Congo War and the fall of Mobutu's Zaire in 1997, and the new Kabila government was licensing its minting authority to generate hard currency revenue however it could.

The toucan series is among dozens of wildlife-themed issues produced under these arrangements, typically struck by European mints on contract.