Catalog
20 Francs overprint
| Issuer | Banque de la République du Burundi |
|---|---|
| Year | 1966 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE LA REPUBLIQUE DU BURUNDI VINGT FRANCS AMAFRANGA MIRONG`IBIRI IBANKI YA REPUBLIKA Y`UBURUNDI LE VICE-PRESIDENT LE PRESIDENT 20-03-65 20 (Translation: Bank of the Republic of Burundi. Twenty francs. The vice president, the president.) |
| Reverse description | Green intaglio print over a yellow underprint; the Coat of Arms of Burundi occupies the central vignette, framed by bilingual text in French and Kirundi. The original bank title of the Kingdom of Burundi is retained in the underlying print beneath the overprinted issue authority. |
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| Comments |
This note was created by overprinting existing stock of the Banque du Congo Belge / Banque d'Émission du Rwanda et du Burundi series — a stopgap measure following Burundi's assertion of independent monetary authority. Rather than commissioning an entirely new issue, the central bank applied the new republican overprint to notes already in circulation or reserve, a practical economy common among newly independent African states scrambling to establish sovereign currency infrastructure in the early 1960s.
Thomas De La Rue handled the overprinting work in London, though the underlying note predates their sole involvement with Burundian issues.