Catalog
5000 Francs
| Issuer | Banque Nationale du Rwanda |
|---|---|
| Year | 1978 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 160 x 80 mm |
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| Obverse description | At left, a vignette of a young woman wearing a beaded necklace, rendered in intaglio against a decorative guilloche underprint. The central field carries an agricultural scene with figures engaged in fieldwork among tall plants, framed by foliage at both margins. The denomination 5000 appears in large numerals at upper left and upper right, with the bank title and value inscription across the top. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Impala head. |
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| Comments |
Rwanda's 1978 series marked the first significant redesign since independence-era notes, issued against a backdrop of relative political stability under Habyarimana following the 1973 coup that had ousted Grégoire Kayibanda. The 5000 Francs was the highest denomination in circulation at the time — a significant practical ceiling given the economy's heavy dependence on coffee export revenues, which were then near their peak due to the global coffee price boom of the late 1970s.
Bradbury, Wilkinson's intaglio work on this series is notably fine for the denomination, consistent with the firm's output for francophone African central banks during this period. The watermark remains the primary security feature — relatively modest by contemporary standards, but typical of what the Banque Nationale was commissioning at the time.