African Paper Money

Weldon D. "Burt" Burson

Specialized Collector of West African States Banknotes

The above French Soudan and Upper Senegal - Niger notes were emergency issues for what is now Mali. Both are extremely rare. An issue of 500,000 notes was authorized for Upper Senegal - Niger in 1919. The colony was renamed French Soudan in 1920, and an additional issue of 250,000 notes was authorized in 1922. See item 7 "West African States Catalog" below for my inventory of all known Mali notes.

New Developments:
BCEAO: The tiny "2003" on the reverse is not the year of issue (only the year the design series began); the date continues to be indicated by the first 2 digits of the serial number.

Notes dated 2007 carry signature 34. The "Gouverneur" signature is of Damo Justin Baro and the “President du Conseil” is Jean-Baptiste Compaore of Burkina. Baro, however, was only an interim Gouverner and has now been replaced by Philippe Henry Dakoury-Tabley of Cote d’Ivoire. Dakoury-Tabley’s signature is expected to appear on 2008 notes.

BEAC: Current issue notes are undated, except for tiny 2002 on reverse which indicates the date the series began. The first 2 digits of the serial number no longer indicate year of issue.

The principal purpose of this site is to provide information on West African States banknotes. The first link below is a bit of personal data for friends and fantasy. All the remaining links contain assorted banknote data
:

1. Favorite Places. Photos and footnotes of special places.

2. IBNS Journal Article (This article contains most of what I know about West African States issues. I try to update it occasionally as new information becomes available.)

3. Duplicates and surplus items available; or request my most recent list at wburson@earthlink.net. Inquiries welcomed in Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, or Norwegian (but some of these are rusty, so be prepared for errors in my response).

4. Pretty pictures (Scans of some of my favorite African notes.)

5. Buy List (I will pay outrageously high prices for items my collection is missing.)

6. Basic Data on West African States Notes

7. West African States Inventory (Up-to-date listing of all confirmed varieties, including independent issues for Mali and Mauritania.)

8. Signature Combinations (Facsimiles of various signatures - essential to identifying undated varieties.)

9. PICK Catalog, West African States Updates

10. Central African States Catalog (Up-to-date listing of all confirmed varieties.)

Click here for an introduction to CFA banknotes .