500 Sylis Miriam Makeba

Guinea issued this coin as part of a broader commemorative program tied to the country's ambitions on the international stage under Sékou Touré. Miriam Makeba had strong personal and political ties to Guinea — after her U.S. visa was revoked following her 1968 marriage to Stokely Carmichael, Touré offered her Guinean citizenship and a position as a UN delegate, making her genuinely part of the republic's diplomatic identity rather than a borrowed celebrity face.

The 500 Sylis denomination was largely notional in daily commerce; Guinea's monetary system was increasingly isolated following Touré's break with the IMF in 1962.