World coins chat: Congo & Zaire

The Democratic Republic of Congo is a country in Central Africa named after the Congo river. It is one of the largest countries in Africa and the largest francophone country in the world with a population of 75 million. It is also one of the poorest and least developed states on the globe, despite abundant natural resources.

The Portuguese never went far upstream the Congo river during their ventures in Africa. At the same time, the eastern part was often visited by Arab slave traders. In the 1870's Belgian King Leopold II sent British explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley to investigate the area. In 1885 Congo was awarded to Leopold II during the Berlin Conference, and it was named the Congo Free State. He made a lot of money exploiting the locals for his rubber enterprises. Due to bad conditions and epidemics many millions of Congolese died, but no accurate records exist.

International pressure led to the annexation of Congo Free State by the Belgian state in 1908, which marked the start of Belgian Congo. Belgian Congo was involved in WW1, when the Belgians attacked German East Africa together with the British, and were awarded the province of Ruanda-Urundi in 1916.

In 1960 Congo was granted independence, with Patrice Lumumba becoming the first prime minister. A power struggle soon broke out between the leftist Lumumba and Joseph Kasavubu. At the same time, the south eastern province of Katanga seceded from Congo. Lumumba was arrested and brought to Katanga where he was assassinated by Kantangan troops under Belgian command. Meanwhile, army commander Mobutu Sese Soko, supported by the West who disliked Congo's flirt with socialism, organised a mutiny and took power. Katanga was reunited with Congo in 1963.

Mobutu changed the name of Congo-Léopoldville to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1965, only to change it again in 1971 to Zaire, after the local name of the Congo river. Mobutu ruled with iron fist and enriched himself shamelessly in an impoverished country.

In 1997 Mobutu was deposed after a rebellion led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Kabila restored the name of the country to Congo DR. A second Congo war erupted in 1998 involving many neighbouring countries. Millions of Congolese died, mostly due to famine and disease.

In 2001 Kabila was assassinated by his bodyguard and his son Joseph took over. Even up to now the country has experienced a lot of violence and instability caused by local rivalries and intrusions by mainly Rwandan forces.

Congo used its own coins already from the days of the Free State, with a Franc at par with the Belgian Franc. When yhe Free State came to an end, the legends on the coins were updatex. In the 1920's, new 50 centimes and 1 Franc coins were introduced showing a palm tree, symbolising the palm oil plantations. In the 1950's the palm trees appeares again on coins, now with Ruanda-Urundi added to the legends.

After independence Congo-Léopoldville kept the Franc, and a nice aluminium 10 Francs coin was issued featuring a lion.

In 1967, the Zaire was introduced at a rate of 1 Zaire = 1000 Francs. The Zaire had an unusual subdivision of 100 Makuta and 10,000 Sengis. Its initial value was 1Z = $0.50, but this inflated away gradually over the years. Only a few coins were issued, including the 1Z, 5Z and 10Z in 1987, which were the last Congo/Zairean circulation coins to be produced until now. In 1987 the rate was 112Z/$. Inflation was fierce from 1990 and in 1993 the Zaire was replaced by the New Zaire at a rate of 3,000,000 to 1, with 3 New Zaires worth one USD.

Due to the civil war also the New Zaire quickly lost value and in 1997 it was replaced by the Franc at a rate of 100,000 to 1. The Congolese Franc now trades at around a 1,000 per USD. No coins are used for this currency.

Congo Free State:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/congo_independant-1.html

Belgian Congo:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/congo_belge-1.html

Belgian Congo & Ruanda-Urundi:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/ruanda-urundi-1.html

Zaire:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/zaire-1.html

Congo DR:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/republique_democratique_du_congo-1.html

My Congo Free State silver is one of the gems of my collection, although it has been cleaned. I don't want to know where it's been


After the world read the famous exposé Heart of Darkness and found out that Leopold II was a maniac, they took his toys away from him (the Congo Free State was unusual for a colony - it had been the King's exclusive personal property, rather than the property of an entire country) and the Congo was put under the control of the Belgian government. These Congolese coins are very interesting for their simple and thematic designs.

If you collect unusually shaped coins, a 2-franc coin from the Belgian Congo is one of your very few chances to pick up a hexagonal coin.

What makes all this Congo business so confusing is that there are two Congos. The reason for this is that the border between French and Belgian holdings in Africa was chosen to be the Congo River, and both countries named their colonies along that river "the Congo". This confusing situation got even worse when both colonies gained independence, so hold on:


Flags of the People's Republic of the Congo and today's Republic of the Congo

The French Congo, north of the Congo River, became the Republic of the Congo in 1960, with its capital at Brazzaville. The Republic of the Congo is a member of the Central African currency union and does not usually issue its own coinage. If any of your Central African 50-franc or 500-franc coins have a letter "C" on them, they were issued for use in the Republic of the Congo. You can also find 100-franc coins with the country's name on them. Interestingly, the Republic of the Congo was a self-declared communist "People's Republic" for 21 years - although the extreme corruption and underdevelopment of the country meant that life under Congolese "communism" was not much different than life in other African dictatorship.


Flags of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zaïre

Flags of the modern Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Belgian Congo, south of the Congo River, became the Republic of the Congo in 1960, with its capital at Léopoldville, later renamed Kinshasa. The world couldn't handle two countries with the same name, so the name was soon changed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but this was still confusing so President Mobutu decided that a better name would be Zaïre. Mobutu had a special gift for changing the names of things - he was born "Joseph-Desiré Mobutu" and died "Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga". After his fall, the country was once again named the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is how to keep track of the two Congos - today we are mainly focused with the Democratic Republic.

Interestingly, the two capitals, Brazzaville and Kinshasa, are located on two opposing banks of the Congo River, in clear sight of each other. They are the two closest national capitals in the world.


Here are two coins of the likuta currency. These give you a crash-course introduction to the Bantu languages used in southern Africa - in these languages, it's the prefix that changes during pluralization, not the suffix (as in English). This explains how "likuta" and "makuta" mean the same thing, despite sounding like different words to English-speakers. My 1 likuta coin is also a good example of what happens to aluminum if it is treated badly.


And here is one of my favourite world banknotes in my collection - a 10 makuta note from 1967, featuring a soccer pitch and Mobutu's stern, bespectacled face. This note is unusually specific about how counterfeiters of it will be punished (through penal labour, if you were wondering).


I have only one coin from Zaïre - this brass 10-zaïres issue from 1988. It demonstrates why portraits of people facing the viewer don't work well on coins - the entire face wears off very easily.


By the end of his reign, Mobutu was looking pretty old and beaten-down by his prostrate cancer, but on his currency he hadn't aged a day. He was truly the archetypical African dictator, slathering a thick layer of jungle-drum-beating African imagery (he was quite fond of inventing "tribal" words out of thin air) on top of an enormous state system of patronage, corruption, inequality, and ineptitude. When he fell, the entire country came crashing down with him.

There are no more coins issued in the Congo, because there is no more government. (The modern D.R.C. coins are ridiculously undervalued, worth 50 centimes or 1 franc - that's $0.001. It's clear that they were never intended to circulate.) Banknotes are issued sporadically by a weak regime in Kinshasa, but most of the country is in total chaos. Mobutu's rule was so corrupt that in many parts of the country, the roads and railways simply crumbled away. More than 5 million Congolese have died since 1997 in a series of ongoing civil wars which have seen the intervention of almost every neighbouring country, too numerous to count. Murder, cannibalism, genocide, it's all there, in a country that continually bottoms out every international ranking the U.N. can bring itself draw up. The average Congolese makes $412 in one year and the D.R. Congo's Human Development Index is 186th out of 187 countries. When that figure is adjusted for economic inequality (because the super-elite live very differently than the rest), the D.R. Congo hits rock bottom. All this in a country with one of the world's greatest stores of mineral wealth - you certainly own some of the rare metals found in the D.R. Congo, because they are found in every computer and electronic device in the world. It's just depressing.

The lowest denomination banknote of the world is Congolese, thanks L-D Kabila for this one:

A few from the Belgian Congo period:





and one from the 1st Congo DR:

                               ^--- bad scan (damn staples put it out of focus!)


Nothing from the Zaire period, though :(

I know I have 2 aluminium coins from the modern DRC era. One is bigger but commemorating football/soccer

Quote: chomp-masterI know I have 2 aluminium coins from the modern DRC era. One is bigger but commemorating football/soccer

Those are non-circulating coins. After 1988 no circulating coins have been minted for Congo/Zaire.

I have a few circulating coins from every era, including a Congo Free State 10 Centimes.

I know they're uncirculating, but they're coins anyway.

There are other countries you'll find with lots of difficulties, which we didn't already speak about.

The Congo Free State 2 francs coin probably has turned into one of the most counterfeited colonial silvers. Copies  (if indicated) or fakes (if not) generally are copper/nickel about 1 g short in weight.  According to pictures I've seen the fakes are decently struck, non magnetic and you will need a balance telling you whether you potentially might have a genuine silver 2 francs.

Since the Chinese are scouring central Africa for raw materials, some also take up their awful old trade. The massive number of fakes/copies make it difficult to get a decent price for any old originial you might own for decades.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces10913.html

Apart from some Aluminum 25ct and 50ct coins, the DRC also issued brass francs and large silver and/or copper-nickel 5 and 10 franc non-circulating commemoratives.

One series depicts the African wild animals: "Endangered Wildlife" series. The genuine issues date from the early 21st century. They were minted in Canada.
As silver got more expensive after 2005, Congo saw its margin and revenue decline and they suspended the series. The Canadian minting workshop continued (authorized ?) minting these coins. These issues are silver plated rather than sterling silver and the country legend has been switched to English from French (still the official language for administration).
All coins with an English reverse are to be considered phantasy issues.

Yet several figure in the Numista catalogue:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces68926.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces62222.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces73119.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces73117.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces73116.html

Beware what you buy.

If the coins are fantasies, could you show me a link that proves that they are? Fantasies should not be listed alongside legal coinage.

Quote: KennyGIf the coins are fantasies, could you show me a link that proves that they are? Fantasies should not be listed alongside legal coinage.

You can buy an unlimited supply of these fantasy coins at:

https://www.google.be/search?q=fantasy+coins+%22endangered+wildlife%22&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=620&site=webhp&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0CEUQsAQ4CmoVChMIoo6lg6_txgIV55hyCh26xQeH#tbm=isch&q=fantasy+coins+%22endangered+wildlife%22+DRC&imgrc=eza4ETAb35otpM%3A

Clicking either of the top row, it clearly is stated "silver plated" and the country legend always is in English. All genuine coins have a country legend in French.

The site links through to Russian & Chinese distributors.  They generally only sell lots.
Some mention:  "Use: souvenir art &collectible,business gift holiday decoration gift"

Are there such things as fake Zaire brass coins? I ordered one from China, I just don't know if it is fake or not.

Likewise, my Free State 5 Centimes is one of the prides of my collection.

A shame that many African countries are such a mess.

Another great read, thanks.