25 000 Francs CFA - Bokassa I Essai ND

Reverse

Coat of arms of Central African Empire (Facing eagle on sun), denomination below/

Script: Latin

Lettering:
EMPIRE CENTRAFRICAIN
25.000
Frs. C.F.A.
UNITÉ-DIGNITÉ-TRAVAIL

Translation:
*Central African Empire*
25.000 Francs CFA
Unity-Dignity-Work

Edge

Plain

Comment

According to Schön a 15.35 g .900 Gold type was commissioned to be produced by the Monnaie de Paris, but they refused to produce them.

Jean-Bédel Bokassa (22 February 1921 – 3 November 1996), also known as Bokassa I, was a Central African political and military leader who served as the 2nd President of the Central African Republic and as the emperor of its successor state, the Central African Empire, from his Saint-Sylvester coup d'état on 1 January 1966 until overthrown in a subsequent coup in 1979.

Of this period, he served about eleven years as president and three years as self-proclaimed Emperor of Central Africa, though the country was still a de facto military dictatorship. His imperial regime lasted from 4 December 1976 to 21 September 1979. Following his overthrow, the Republic was restored under his predecessor, David Dacko. Bokassa's imperial title did not achieve international diplomatic recognition. He was renowned for his cruelty, including personally supervising the massacre of 100 school children by his infamous imperial guard for not purchasing their school uniforms from his wife's clothing company.

In his trial in absentia, he was tried and sentenced to death. He returned to the Central African Republic in 1986 and was put on trial for treason and murder. In 1987, he was cleared of charges of cannibalism, but found guilty of the murder of schoolchildren and other crimes. The death sentence was later commuted to life in solitary confinement, but just six years later, in 1993, he was freed. He lived a private life in his former capital, Bangui, and died in November 1996.

Interesting fact