Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Zaïres
| Issuer | Banque du Zaïre |
|---|---|
| Year | 1979-1980 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 170 × 84 mm |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Portrait of President Mobutu Sese Seko in an oval vignette at left center, wearing his characteristic leopard-skin toque, set against a fine guilloche underprint in blue and red tones. The numeral 5 in ornate guilloche appears at center right, with a leaping leopard vignette at lower right. The bank title BANQUE DU ZAÏRE runs along the top, with CINQ ZAÏRES in bold intaglio lettering at center, and the date below the portrait alongside the LE GOUVERNEUR title. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DU ZAÏRE CINQ ZAÏRES LE GOUVERNEUR |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banque du Zaïre replaced the Banque Nationale du Congo in 1971 as part of Mobutu Sese Seko's broader authenticity campaign — "Zaïrianisation" — which renamed the country, the currency, and ultimately pushed Belgian and European commercial interests out of the banking sector. The zaïre itself, introduced in 1967, held reasonably well through the early 1970s before inflation began its long, destructive work on the currency's purchasing power.
Giesecke & Devrient handled printing for multiple Zaïrian issues through this period, a relationship that continued even as the country's finances deteriorated sharply into the 1980s.