Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • April 2008
  • Journal Article
  • TAMS Journal

Heart of Darkness: Business Tokens of the Congo (Part 1)

By: Louis T. Wells
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:7
ShareBar

Abstract

Few numismatic fields are as unexplored as the tokens of what was once the Belgian Congo. Although the head (and “extra-wife”) tokens have been thoroughly cataloged, I have found only one very early and incomplete attempt, by Mahieu in the 1920s, to report other tokens from this vast territory. Most of the tokens in this article that have not been previously listed were obtained in markets in Kinshasa between 2000 and 2005. Given the poor communications and regional violence, tokens from the eastern and even central part of the Congo were unlikely to appear in this western-located city. Probably many more tokens were issued in association with the Congo's important mines and plantations. This “Part I” article should serve as a start for the development of a “Part II” with a more complete list and history of issuing companies. Until then, the tokens of the former Belgian Congo and its independent successor states remain largely in darkness.

Keywords

Agribusiness; Mining; Currency; Labor; Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Citation

Wells, Louis T. "Heart of Darkness: Business Tokens of the Congo (Part 1)." TAMS Journal 48 (April 2008): 36–42.

About The Author

Louis T. Wells

→More Publications

More from the Author

    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Got 'Critical Minerals'? Hooray! But Be Careful

    By: Louis T. Wells
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    ISDS Constrains Government Actions to Reduce Climate Change

    By: Louis T. Wells
    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Obsolescence of the Obsolescing Bargain: Why Governments Must Get Investor-State Contracts Right

    By: Louis T. Wells and Karl P. Sauvant
More from the Author
  • Got 'Critical Minerals'? Hooray! But Be Careful By: Louis T. Wells
  • ISDS Constrains Government Actions to Reduce Climate Change By: Louis T. Wells
  • Obsolescence of the Obsolescing Bargain: Why Governments Must Get Investor-State Contracts Right By: Louis T. Wells and Karl P. Sauvant
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College