500 Francs

The Banque Centrale de la République Fédérale du Cameroun was a short-lived institution, created in 1961 when the former French and British trust territories merged and surviving only until 1972 when the federation became a unitary state and the BEAC took over. This 500 Francs sits squarely in that transitional window, issued just a year after federation and printed by the Banque de France — the standard arrangement for Francophone African states newly navigating monetary independence while still deeply tied to French printing infrastructure.

The "fédérale" in the issuer name is the detail worth noting: it reflects a political compromise that lasted barely a decade.