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50 Centimes
| Issuer | Banque Centrale du Congo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1997 |
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| Printer | Giesecke+Devrient (Giesecke & Devrient), Leipzig, Germany (1852-date); Tumba Bruk, Sweden (1755-date) |
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| Obverse description | Intaglio vignette of an okapi head ("TETE D'OKAPI") at left center against a geometric guilloche underprint in brown and ochre tones, with the bank monogram (intertwined BCC cipher) within a diamond-shaped guilloche at center right. The denomination "50c" appears in large numerals at lower left and upper left, with "CINQUANTE CENTIMES" in vertical letterpress along the left margin. Governor's facsimile signature with the name MASANGU MULONGO and date 01.11.1997 appear at lower right, alongside a serial number in red. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central intaglio vignette of a family group of okapis — an adult and juvenile — standing in grass, captioned "FAMILLE D'OKAPIS / Réserve d'okapis d'EPULU", set against a multicolour geometric guilloche underprint in brown, ochre, and blue. The denomination "50c" appears in large numerals at lower left and lower right, with "MAKUMI TANO" (Swahili for fifty) at lower right and "FIFTY" above the denomination at upper right. An anti-counterfeiting warning in French appears at lower left. |
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| Comments |
The Banque Centrale du Congo's 1997 50 Centimes was issued in the same year Mobutu's Zaïre collapsed and Laurent-Désiré Kabila renamed the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo — the bank's name change on the note itself is the most historically loaded detail here. The extremely low face value reflects the catastrophic hyperinflation of the preceding years, during which the Zaïrian new zaïre had become nearly worthless, necessitating a full monetary redenomination under the new franc congolais.
Masangu Mulongo, whose signature appears here, was appointed governor precisely to manage that transition. The dual-printer arrangement — G+D alongside Sweden's Tumba Bruk — was not unusual for high-security production runs of this period.