50 Francs

The Banque d'Emission du Rwanda et du Burundi was itself a transitional institution — created in 1960 to replace the Banque du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi as Belgian decolonization accelerated, it issued currency for a territory that would split into two independent states within two years. This note predates both Rwandan and Burundian independence by a matter of months.

Thomas De La Rue handled the entire series. The notes were printed in London for territories that Belgium was visibly preparing to relinquish, a quiet administrative fact embedded in the issuer's name itself.