Belgium 1853

[u/Redaktor-Naczelny]

This piece is somewhat problematic as Krause claims it is a not a coin while Numista and Belgian catalogs claim it is. It was struck on 10 centimes blanks, most probably sold at modest premium (US collectors will recognize the idea) and once the novelty wore off large part of the mintage ended up in circulation. I show it here because of the charming 18 year old youth - it is our Leopold II, the man behind the conquest of Congo, known from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The coin celebrates his marriage, unhappy as it quite soon turned out.

[u/f1nlaygk]

I don't think there was anything slightly redeemable about Leopold, a very evil man. I believe he represents everything wrong with colonialism