Catalog
20 Francs
| Issuer | Banque d'Emission du Rwanda et du Burundi |
|---|---|
| Year | 1964 |
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| Value | 20 Francs |
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| Obverse description | Green intaglio print over yellow and pink underprint, with black serial numbers. A bold black overprint reads 'BURUNDI' across the face. The central vignette presents a Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) resting on a river bank, oriented to the left at right of centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE D`EMISSION DU RWANDA ET DU BURUNDI VINGT FRANCS PAYABLE A VUE LE CONTREFACTEUR EST PUNIT DE SERVITUDE PENALE BURUNDI 05.10.60 UN ADMINISTRATEUR, LE PRESIDENT. THOMAS DE LA RUE & COMPANY, LIMITED. 20 (Translation: Issuing Bank of Rwanda and Burundi. Twenty francs payable at sight. The counterfeiter is punished with penal servitude. Administrator, president.) |
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| Comments |
The Banque d'Emission du Rwanda et du Burundi was always a transitional institution — established in 1960 to manage the currency of the former Belgian trust territory, it was already winding down by the time this note was issued. Both Rwanda and Burundi had been independent since 1962, yet the shared central bank and its common franc lingered for several more years while each country built the infrastructure to issue its own currency. Rwanda introduced the Rwanda franc in 1964; Burundi followed with its own franc the same year, effectively rendering this series obsolete almost immediately upon printing.
Thomas De La Rue printed the series in London, a routine assignment for them in the post-colonial African market of that decade.