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1 Franc - Mwambutsa IV

Issuer Banque du Royaume du Burundi
Year 1965
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Diameter 23 mm
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Obverse lettering IBANKI Y'INGOMA Y'UBURUNDI GANZA SABWA 1965
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Reverse lettering BANQUE du ROYAUME du BURUNDI 1F BRB
(Translation: Royal Bank of Burundi)
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Additional information

Burundi gained independence from Belgian administration in 1962, and the Banque du Royaume du Burundi moved quickly to establish a distinct coinage separate from the Congo-Rwanda-Burundi monetary union that had governed the region's currency under colonial rule. This 1965 franc was struck while Mwambutsa IV was still nominally on the throne — though by mid-1965 his authority had been badly eroded by a failed Hutu-led coup and subsequent political violence that would eventually drive him into permanent exile in Europe.

He was formally deposed in 1966, making issues from this final year of his reign among the last under his name.