Guinea's independence from France came in October 1958 — the only territory in French West Africa to vote "No" in de Gaulle's referendum, a decision that prompted France to withdraw all technical and financial assistance almost immediately. The Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée was established to fill the resulting institutional vacuum, and this 1960 series was among the first issues it produced. Thomas De La Rue handled the printing, a common arrangement for newly independent Francophone states that lacked domestic printing infrastructure.
Pick 15 is the high denomination of the inaugural series. Surviving examples in any grade are harder to locate than the lower values, consistent with typical hoarding patterns for top-denomination notes in post-independence economies running chronic hard currency shortages.
Guinea's independence from France came in October 1958 — the only territory in French West Africa to vote "No" in de Gaulle's referendum, a decision that prompted France to withdraw all technical and financial assistance almost immediately. The Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée was established to fill the resulting institutional vacuum, and this 1960 series was among the first issues it produced. Thomas De La Rue handled the printing, a common arrangement for newly independent Francophone states that lacked domestic printing infrastructure.
Pick 15 is the high denomination of the inaugural series. Surviving examples in any grade are harder to locate than the lower values, consistent with typical hoarding patterns for top-denomination notes in post-independence economies running chronic hard currency shortages.