Catalog
20 Francs
| Issuer | Banque du Royaume du Burundi |
|---|---|
| Year | 1964-1965 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 Francs (20 BIF) |
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| Obverse description | Green intaglio print over an orange underprint, with black serial numbers. A central vignette presents a traditional Burundian dancer in full figure. Bilingual text in French and Kirundi appears in the surrounding inscriptions, with the issuing authority named at top and facsimile signatures of the Vice-President and President at lower left and right respectively, alongside the date. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Green intaglio print over a yellow underprint. The central vignette displays the coat of arms of Burundi. Bilingual text in French and Kirundi frames the design, including the issuing authority at top, a counterfeiting warning, and the royal motto of the Kingdom of Burundi. |
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| Comments |
Burundi gained independence in 1962, and the Banque du Royaume du Burundi — a royalist institution under Mwami Mwambutsa IV — operated for only a few years before the 1966 coup abolished the monarchy and prompted a complete currency replacement. Notes from this brief window are consequently scarce in any grade, simply because the series had a short issuance life and the successor republic wasted little time demonetizing them.
Thomas De La Rue handled printing for numerous newly independent African states in this period, often working from designs commissioned in London before the issuing infrastructure existed on the ground.