Catalog
2 Sylis
| Issuer | Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée |
|---|---|
| Year | 1981 |
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| Reference(s) | P#21 |
| Obverse description | Portrait of President Sékou Touré in three-quarter left profile at left, rendered in fine intaglio engraving against an orange guilloche underprint. The denomination numeral "2" appears at upper left and lower right within ornate side panels. A central green guilloche rosette carries the denomination legend, with two facsimile signatures below for the Ministre des Finances and the Gouverneur Banque Centrale, and the date "le 1er MARS 1960" beneath the denomination text. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE CENTRALE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE DE GUINÉE DEUX SYLIS le 1er MARS 1960 MINISTRE DES FINANCES GOUVERNEUR BANQUE CENTRALE TOUT CONTREFACTEUR SERA PUNI PAR LA LOI EN VIGUEUR 1981 |
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| Comments |
Guinea's syli series was introduced in 1971 when Sékou Touré's government replaced the Guinean franc specifically to sever any symbolic tie to the CFA franc zone — a political gesture as much as a monetary one. By 1981, when this note was issued, the country had been operating under a command economy for two decades and the syli was chronically overvalued against real purchasing power.
The 2 sylis denomination was effectively worthless in daily commerce by this point. It survived in the series more by institutional inertia than practical need. Touré died in 1984, and the military junta that followed quickly abolished the syli entirely, restoring the franc — making this late-syli material a short final chapter.