This bedraggled note is my best argument for never passing up a note one is missing - regardless of condition! I came across this at the Bank of France in 1989 and almost did not keep it, expecting no difficulty in locating a better one. It is still the only known example of the 1988 date. I suspect it is an error in which the printer (Oberthur) neglected to switch the date on the second-pass plate before starting to print 1989 issues. Examples of the 1-1-89 Congo 500 francs exist with serial numbers only a few thousand digits higher.