Catalog
5000 Francs
| Issuer | Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest |
|---|---|
| Year | 1959 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#5 |
| Obverse description | Blue, brown and multicolour note with a bearded man's portrait at left and a building vignette at centre, set against a guilloche underprint. The denomination '5000' appears in numerals at lower left and right, with the issuing authority's full title across the upper margin. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
The BCEAO was established in 1962 to replace the earlier Institut d'Émission de l'Afrique Occidentale Française et du Togo, and the early notes of this series bridge that institutional transition — P#5 carries design heritage from the colonial-era CFA franc system while being issued under a nominally independent multinational authority. Seven newly sovereign states were sharing the same currency, a monetary arrangement that was, and remains, deeply contentious in francophone West Africa.
The 5000-franc denomination was the highest in this series, meaning these notes circulated hard and wore out fast. Finding examples without significant fold fatigue is genuinely difficult.