50 Centimes Butterfly

The Democratic Republic of the Congo relaunched its franc currency in 1998 after the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, replacing the new zaire as part of Laurent-Désiré Kabila's broader effort to sever symbolic ties with the previous regime. Small aluminum fractional coins like this one entered circulation during one of the most violent periods in modern African history — the Second Congo War was ongoing, and the central government in Kinshasa had effective control over only a fraction of the country's territory.

Aluminum coinage of this period saw minimal practical circulation outside major urban centers.