50 000 Francs CFA Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity — specifically associated with the Aztec and earlier Toltec civilizations of central Mexico — which has no historical, cultural, or geographic connection to the franc zone of central Africa or to any of the six BEAC member states. The bank has issued a long-running series of large-format silver pieces themed around subjects entirely external to the region, a commercial bullion-and-collector strategy explicitly aimed at the European and Asian secondary markets rather than domestic circulation.

At 311 grams of .999 silver, this is a 10 troy ounce piece — a format now standard across numerous African issuing authorities that license their minting authority to private producers, typically European mints.