Benin's commemorative coinage of the late 1990s was largely produced under licensing arrangements with European minting agencies — this piece almost certainly struck by the Monnaie de Paris or a private contractor, with Cotonou having no domestic mint of its own. The subject, the Sydney 2000 Games, prompted a flood of licensed issues from West African franc zone states between 1996 and 1999, most sharing nearly identical specifications across different issuing authorities.
The IOC's aggressive licensing program during this period generated commemoratives from dozens of nations with no athletes competing in Sydney.
Benin's commemorative coinage of the late 1990s was largely produced under licensing arrangements with European minting agencies — this piece almost certainly struck by the Monnaie de Paris or a private contractor, with Cotonou having no domestic mint of its own. The subject, the Sydney 2000 Games, prompted a flood of licensed issues from West African franc zone states between 1996 and 1999, most sharing nearly identical specifications across different issuing authorities.
The IOC's aggressive licensing program during this period generated commemoratives from dozens of nations with no athletes competing in Sydney.