Catalog
10 Francs
| Issuer | Banque du Congo Belge |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941-1942 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Francs |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Green on blue and pink underprint. A vignette at right presents soldiers bearing rifles, set against a background of huts and trees, rendered in a style consistent with the colonial engraving conventions of the period. |
| Reverse lettering | 10 BANK VAN BELGISCH CONGO 10 TIEN FRANK BETAALBAAR OP ZICHT 10 DE NAMAKER WORDT DOOR DE WET MET DWANGARBEID GESTRAFT |
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| Comments |
The Banque du Congo Belge continued issuing notes from London after Belgium fell to Germany in May 1940 — the colonial banking apparatus relocated alongside the Belgian government-in-exile, and Waterlow & Sons handled production throughout the occupation years. This P#14 series was the result: notes for a colony whose metropole had ceased to function as a sovereign state.
Congo's mineral wealth, particularly uranium from Shinkolobwe, made the colony strategically critical to the Allies during this period, which partly explains why maintaining a functioning colonial currency was treated as a serious wartime priority rather than an administrative afterthought.