Owner Comments:
Belgian Congo - 1943 2 Francs - KM #25 - Mintage: 25,000,000
This coin was minted by the Philadelphia Mint for circulation in the Belgian Congo during World War II. This coin is one of the most unusual coins of the entire "Foreign Coins minted by the U.S. Mint" series for a variety of reasons.
The Belgian Congo became strategically important because of its natural resources when the Japanese gained control of southeast Asia in World War II. The Belgian Government, while in exile, commissioned the U.S. mint to produce a hexagonal 2 franc coin bearing the walking elephant on the obverse and the bilingual "Bank of Congo" legend on the reverse. This coin was struck in brass, most likely recovered from spent artillery shell casings, with medalic rotation. It also has the distinction of being the only hexagonal coin minted by the U.S. Mint.
Unfortunately, a serious error was made on the reverse when the letter "C" was left out of "BELGISCH." With a mintage of 25,000,000, the error was too great to correct, and the coins were released into circulation. A round 2 franc elephant coin was minted in Pretoria, South Africa in 1946 to replace the 1943 Philadelphia issue. The hexagonal coins were removed from circulation, and even before 1960 became difficult to find.
Date acquired: 1/30/2015 (raw coin)
Date graded: 9/25/2015 (self submitted to NGC)
References
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* The U.S. Mint Goes to War, Jeff Starck, Coin World, December 2011, Vol. 52, Issue 2695, pp 135-144
* Congo Coins, Dr. John R. Crawford, The Numismatist, July 1964, pp 883-885,
Rev.: 12/1/2015