The Ivory Coast issued a series of themed silver pieces in the mid-2000s under authorization from the Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, though the coins were produced entirely for the collector market with no meaningful circulation in the issuing country. The astrolabe series belongs to a broader wave of CFA-denominated commemoratives struck by European mints — almost certainly Paris or a contracted private facility — targeting European and Asian numismatic retail channels rather than any domestic audience.
The astrolabe itself had its Islamic Golden Age refinement to thank for its later adoption by Iberian navigators, a detail that gives this particular subject some historical irony given West Africa's own role in that navigational era.
The Ivory Coast issued a series of themed silver pieces in the mid-2000s under authorization from the Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, though the coins were produced entirely for the collector market with no meaningful circulation in the issuing country. The astrolabe series belongs to a broader wave of CFA-denominated commemoratives struck by European mints — almost certainly Paris or a contracted private facility — targeting European and Asian numismatic retail channels rather than any domestic audience.
The astrolabe itself had its Islamic Golden Age refinement to thank for its later adoption by Iberian navigators, a detail that gives this particular subject some historical irony given West Africa's own role in that navigational era.