500 Francs Brown Pelican

The Bank of Central African States — the BEAC — serves six member nations across equatorial Africa, none of which has any native population of brown pelicans. This coin was struck for the international collector market, a practice the BEAC has pursued aggressively since the 2010s to generate hard currency revenue largely disconnected from the monetary needs of its member states.

KM# 125 is part of a broader wildlife bullion-adjacent series. Mintage figures for these issues are typically controlled and low, though the BEAC has not always published them consistently.