Catalog
500 Francs
| Issuer | Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée |
|---|---|
| Year | 1998 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Oberthur Fiduciaire, Paris |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The central vignette presents a polychrome scene of a bauxite mining installation, with a tall latticed headframe and conveyor structure set among trees and industrial buildings under a cloudy sky. To the right, an intricately engraved vignette of a traditional African ceremonial mask or headdress is rendered in fine intaglio line work. The upper and lower borders carry dense traditional geometric guilloche bands, and an optically variable diamond device appears at upper left. |
| Reverse lettering | 500 CINQ CENTS FRANCS GUINÉENS |
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| Comments |
Guinea's 500 Francs denomination has a complicated history tied directly to the country's repeated monetary resets. The Guinean Franc was reintroduced in 1985 after the syli — imposed by Sékou Touré's regime as a deliberate break from the CFA Franc zone — was abandoned following his death. This 1998 issue comes from a period when the Banque Centrale was working to stabilize confidence after years of parallel-market chaos and chronic overvaluation under the syli system.
Oberthur Fiduciaire's involvement is consistent with French West African printing relationships that persisted long after independence. The inclusion of an OVD on a 500 Franc note — a relatively low value — reflects how aggressively counterfeit-prone small denominations had become in the region by the late 1990s.