Belgium 1948 50 Francs Olympic Commemorative

The 1948 Belgian Olympic coin was struck in silver that likely came from the country's colonial mines in the Congo, a detail that ties it to Belgium's global reach at the time.

That silver planchet, weighing about 18 grams, features a design by artist Joseph De Nève showing a stylized athlete in motion. On the obverse, King Leopold III appears in profile, a nod to the monarchy's role in post-war recovery. The coin's edge is reeded, a standard for the era, but its diameter of 33 millimeters makes it unusually large for a commemorative piece.

Mintage figures are murky; records from that period were poorly kept due to the chaos of World War II's aftermath. What we know is that these coins circulated briefly before being hoarded.

Not every Olympic souvenir ends up in a vault. This one, for instance, sometimes turns up in odd places, like a grandparent's drawer.