5000 Francs

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.