Catalog
10 Francs
| Issuer | Banque Centrale du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi |
|---|---|
| Year | 1955-1959 |
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| Value | 10 Francs |
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| Obverse description | Intaglio-printed bust of an Askari soldier of the Force Publique in left profile occupies the left portion of the face, set against a fine guilloche underprint in blue and salmon with a rural African landscape vignette in the background. The denomination "DIX FRANCS" is printed in large bold letters at centre, flanked by numeral counters at all four corners, with a decorative starburst guilloche medallion to the right. Signature lines for "UN DIRECTEUR" and "LE GOUVERNEUR" appear at lower centre alongside the issue date. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | CENTRALE BANK VAN BELGISCH-CONGO EN RUANDA-URUNDI TIEN FRANK BETAALBAAR OP ZICHT EEN DIRECTEUR DE GOUVERNEUR DE NAMAKER WORDT MET STRAFDIENST GESTRAFT WATERLOW & SONS LIMITED, LONDRES. |
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| Comments |
The Banque Centrale du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi was a short-lived institution, established in 1952 to replace the earlier Comité Monétaire and wound down after Congolese independence in 1960. This note circulated across an enormous and administratively unwieldy territory — the Belgian Congo alone was roughly seventy-five times the size of Belgium itself — which meant that physical condition of surviving notes varies sharply depending on whether they saw urban or rural use.
Waterlow & Sons had a long relationship with Belgian colonial monetary authorities. The firm's liquidation in 1961, the same year Congolese currency was reorganized under the new Banque Nationale, means this series represents one of the final Waterlow-printed issues for the region.