5 Francs Essai

Pattern issues from the Banque Centrale du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi are scarce by design — essais were produced in strictly limited numbers for official approval and distribution to selected collectors and institutions, never entering circulation. The 1952 date places this squarely in the transitional period after the bank's 1951 reorganization, which consolidated monetary authority over both the Belgian Congo and the Ruanda-Urundi trust territory under a single issuing body.

KM#E1 designation confirms this as the first catalogued essai for the issuer — the starting point of a short-lived series that ended with Congolese independence in 1960.