50 Francs

The Banque Centrale du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi was itself a short-lived institution — established in 1952 to replace the earlier Banque du Congo Belge, it existed barely a decade before decolonization dismantled the entire monetary arrangement. These 1957–1959 notes were among the last printed before the Congo's independence in June 1960 triggered a rapid succession of issuing authorities and currency reforms.

Bradbury Wilkinson's New Malden facility handled security printing for dozens of colonial and post-colonial currencies during this period, and their work for Belgian Africa was no exception in quality. The watermark remains the sole security feature — modest by contemporary standards, but consistent with how the series was specified from the outset.