Belgian Congo 1889 10 centimes
This specimen was lot 3623 in Stephen Album sale 38 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2020), where it sold for $65.45. The catalog description[1] noted, "BELGIAN CONGO: Leopold II, 1865-1909, AE 10 centimes, 1889, pleasing color, nice eye appeal, NGC graded MS64 RB." This type was also struck 1887-89 and 1894.
The history of the Congo has long been unhappy. The region was claimed by Leopold III of Belgium in the 1880's as his private domain, ostensibly to end the slave trade which had long afflicted the area. Instead, he instituted a reign of terror as natives were massacred if they failed to yield their assigned quota of rubber and ivory. Finally, after a world outcry, the government of Belgium annexed the area in 1908 and ended the most abusive practices. Still, few wept when the colonizers withdrew in 1960. Violence and exploitation continue to this day, fulfilling white racists' worst stereotypes about "darkest Africa."
Recorded mintage: 100,000.
Specification: copper, 35 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM 4 (listed under Congo Free State).
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 38, featuring the Dabestani Collection of Persian Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2020.
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