Catalog
50 Francs
| Issuer | Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée |
|---|---|
| Year | 1960 |
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| Value | 50 Francs |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE CENTRALE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE DE GUINÉE CINQUANTE FRANCS le 1er MARS 1960 DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL MINISTRE GOUVERNEUR TOUT CONTREFACTEUR SERA PUNI PAR LA LOI EN VIGUEUR (Translation: CENTRAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF GUINEA / FIFTY FRANCS / March 1, 1960 / GENERAL DIRECTOR / MINISTER GOVERNOR / COUNTERFEITERS WILL BE PUNISHED BY APPLICABLE LAW) |
| Reverse description | Central intaglio vignette in brown tones illustrating an open-pit bauxite mining operation, with a processing tower and conveyor structure at left, a bulldozer at centre, and a crawler crane at right, set against a mountainous landscape. Geometric triangular border ornaments frame the left and right margins. The denomination legend appears in a guilloche band at top, with the numeral '50' repeated in decorated cartouches at lower left and lower right. |
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| Comments |
Guinea's first banknotes were issued immediately following independence from France in October 1958, after Sékou Touré's government voted "Non" in the de Gaulle referendum — the only French West African territory to do so — and was promptly cut off from the CFA franc zone. The 1960 series, printed by Thomas De La Rue in London, established the Guinean franc as a fully sovereign currency at a moment of deliberate political rupture with Paris.
The P#12 is among the lower denominations of that inaugural series. De La Rue's watermark security on these early notes was relatively basic by the firm's own standards of the period.