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10 000 Francs
| Issuer | Banque du Congo Belge |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1887-1960) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The face is printed in black on white paper with a light guilloche underprint, centred by the large denomination numeral 10.000 within an ornate panel flanked by the BCB and BBC monograms, each incorporating a five-pointed star. The bilingual bank title in French and Dutch appears at the top within a decorative cartouche, with the value expressed in both languages above the numeral panel, and two facsimile signatures appear at the lower left and right below the date 10-03-42. A red diagonal SPECIMEN overprint crosses the face. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely blank. |
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| Comments |
The Banque du Congo Belge continued operating through London during the Second World War after Belgium fell to German occupation in May 1940 — the colonial financial infrastructure, including note issuance, was maintained from exile with British cooperation. Waterlow & Sons handled the printing, as they did for numerous allied and exile governments during this period.
At 10,000 Francs, this is the highest denomination of the wartime series — a figure that speaks to the scale of transactions in the colony's mining and commodity economy rather than everyday retail use. Pick 20 survivors in any honest condition are uncommon.