500 Francs CFA Taj Mahal

Ivory Coast's commemorative franc CFA issues of the late 2000s were produced under a licensing arrangement typical of small African states using the West African Economic and Monetary Union's currency framework — nations with no independent monetary policy, issuing collector coins largely for the international numismatic market rather than domestic circulation. The Taj Mahal series targeted European and Asian buyers, not Abidjan.

KM#71 is one of several world-monument issues struck for Ivory Coast by European minting contractors during this period, a practice that raises persistent questions about issuing authority authenticity among specialist collectors.