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1 Franc - Léopold II Pattern
| Issuer | Congo Free State (1885-1908) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1896 |
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| Diameter | 23 mm |
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| Obverse description | Bare-headed right-facing bust of King Léopold II of Belgium, rendered in high relief with finely detailed beard and aged facial features in a naturalistic portrait style. The effigy occupies the central field, with the engraver's signature FERNANDUBOIS incused beneath the truncation. The surrounding legend reads LÉOP. II R.D. BELG. SOUV. DE L'ÉTAT INDÉP. DU CONGO, arranged along the upper and left periphery in raised Latin characters. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 1 FRANC 1896 |
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| Additional information |
The Congo Free State was Leopold II's personal property — not a Belgian colony, but a private state owned outright by the king following the 1885 Berlin Conference. Pattern coinage for the Free State was produced speculatively, often in multiple metals, as Leopold's administration tested designs for a currency infrastructure that never fully materialized. Most Free State patterns were struck in Paris, and surviving gold examples are almost invariably unique or exist in single-digit quantities across institutional and private collections worldwide.
Delmonte's gold pattern series for this issuer remains one of the least-documented in Belgian numismatic literature.