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1 Centime - Léopold II
| Issuer | Congo Free State (1885-1908) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1887-1888 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.98 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A large five-pointed star, rendered with fine radiating lines and a dotted outline along its inner edges, is centered on the reverse with the round hole at its center. Six small five-pointed stars are distributed in the field between the points of the main star. The denomination '1 Cme' (1 Centime) is inscribed in the upper field to the left and right of the star's uppermost point. The date '1888' appears in the lower exergual area, flanked by the engraver's initials 'L' and 'W'. The entire design is framed by a beaded border. |
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| Edge | Milled |
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| Additional information |
The Congo Free State was not a national government but the personal property of Léopold II, registered to him privately at the 1884–85 Berlin Conference. No other territory in the colonial period was formally owned by a single individual rather than a sovereign state. These centimes were struck in Brussels and represent the earliest coinage of that arrangement — Léopold's mint issuing currency for a private empire roughly the size of Western Europe, administered through a regime later documented by E.D. Morel and Roger Casement for its systematic use of mutilation as labor enforcement.