500 Francs Henri Rousseau, The Football Players

Henri Rousseau painted The Football Players in 1908, depicting a scene that most art historians read as rugby rather than association football — the oval ball and handling posture are unmistakable. The painting now hangs in the Guggenheim in New York, having passed through several private collections after Rousseau's death in 1910, the same year he died in poverty despite belated recognition from Picasso and the Parisian avant-garde.

BEAC's collector silver program has leaned heavily on European fine art subjects, an unusual editorial choice for a Central African monetary authority whose member states include Cameroon, Gabon, and Chad.