500 Nouveaux Zaïres Okapi

By 1996, the Banque du Zaïre was issuing coin series it had no realistic expectation of circulating. The country was in its final months under Mobutu Sese Seko, inflation had gutted the zaïre currency through successive redenominations — the "nouveau zaïre" itself introduced in 1993 at a rate of 3,000,000 old zaïres to one — and Laurent-Désiré Kabila's AFDL forces would take Kinshasa within a year. This piece is a collector issue produced for foreign exchange, not domestic use.

The .500 fineness is notably low for a commemorative silver, suggesting cost-cutting at the mint commissioning stage.