5000 Francs Georges Pompidou

Gabon issued this piece as part of a wave of commemorative gold struck by newly independent Francophone African states in the late 1960s and early 1970s, many of them produced at the Paris Mint under arrangements that had more to do with diplomatic currency than numismatic demand. Pompidou had visited Gabon in 1971 as part of France's ongoing effort to maintain influence across its former equatorial territories — ties that President Bongo actively cultivated.

Mintages for this series were small and largely absorbed by presentation sets rather than circulation.