50000 — Fifty Thousand Zaïres
The artwork
Front: Mobutu Sese Seko in marshal's uniform and peaked cap, the heavy spectacles and set jaw familiar from thirty years of Zairean money. Behind him the arms of Zaire — a leopard's head above crossed spear and arrows. A leopard stretches along the lower band, and the panel above reads BANQUE DU ZAIRE / CINQUANTE MILLE ZAIRES, dated 24-4-1991 with the Governor's signature beneath.
Back: A silverback gorilla dominates the field, seated among dense forest foliage, with a second adult, a juvenile and an infant to the left. The small caption names him: MAHESHE, du Parc Kahuzi-Biega, the eastern lowland gorilla group in the Kivu highlands. Greens and blues throughout, the value in figures at both upper left and lower centre, with the counterfeiting warning top right.
In circulation
Dated 24 April 1991 and issued as inflation ran away with the zaïre; within two years far larger denominations had followed it. The currency was swept aside in October 1993 by the nouveau zaïre, which itself gave way to the Congolese franc in 1998, after the country had reverted to the name Congo.
Details
- IssuerBanque du Zaïre
- CurrencyZaïre
- DenominationFifty Thousand Zaïres
- Collectedon the Zaire journey, 1992
- SeriesDated 24-4-1991; serial J 0634577 K
- SignatureSingle signature, Le Gouverneur
- SecurityPrinted warning on the reverse: LE CONTREFACTEUR EST PUNI DE SERVITUDE PENALE