Elephants have appeared on coins since the time of Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire. During World War II the Belgian Congo issued two elephant coins, a brass hexagonal 2 Francs coin as well as a 50 Francs silver coin. Since then multiple countries have authorized the issuance of legal tender elephant coins. Among them are Zambia and the Somali Republic, both of which have authorized the issuance of a series of elephant coins on an annual basis. South Africa has issued elephant coins as part of their Big Five series and several Southeast Asia countries have used the pachyderms on circulating coinage as well as paper money.