«FIAT PANIS», Let there be bread: the Latin motto of FAO appears on the reverse of this Guinea-Bissau 2000 pesos beside the dates «1945-1995», because the coin marks the fiftieth anniversary of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

The reverse is a genre scene of harvest: in the foreground a woman holds a basket of pineapples, behind her two men till the soil and plant a sapling. The Portuguese inscription «ALIMENTOS PARA TODOS», Food for all, states the aim behind the coin programme FAO had launched back in 1968. The obverse shows the national arms with the value «2000 PESOS», the legend «REPÚBLICA DA GUINÉ-BISSAU» and the motto «UNIDADE LUTA PROGRESSO» (Unity, Struggle, Progress).

For Guinea-Bissau this was a return to the theme its own coinage began with: the first circulating series of 1977 was also issued under the FAO programme. The same anniversary pineapple scene was used for a 20,000 pesos coin as well.

UNC: the coin has never circulated, shows no wear and keeps its mint lustre, with only minor storage marks possible. In a collection of FAO coins it is an anniversary piece with one of the most vivid designs, and in an Africa collection a coin from the final years of the Guinea-Bissau peso.

A themed selection that includes this coin is easy to expand with other items from the VPcoins catalogue.