Numismatic Auction #18

BIAFRA: AR one crown (28.66g), 1969, KM-5, bust of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, chief of staff during Biafra's brief independence 1967-1970 / coconut palm tree, NGC graded AU58, RRR.
Little is known about this seldom encountered commemorative, probably intended for two years of independence, and inscribed "independence and liberty". No specimen has appeared at auction or for sale in recent years, to the best of our recollection. It is listed as "rare" by Krause, valued €1000 by Schon (Welt Münzkatalog, 20. Jahrhundert, 2008 edition). It has been suggested that it was produced by an Italian operation known as Istituto Numismatico Europeo, but there is no evidence to confirm this assumption. There is no mintmark on the coin -- the alleged letters beneath the trunk of the palm tree are quite illegible and more likely just the tops of the tree roots. In any case, the style & arrangement are totally different from any of the other issues struck for Biafra during its ephemeral existence.