“B.E.R.B.” on this 1961 1-franc stands for the “Banque d’Emission du Rwanda et du Burundi,” created when the Belgian Congo became independent in 1960 and left the UN trust territory of Rwanda-Burundi in need of a new currency.
These small brass 1-franc pieces are the only members of the Rwanda-Burundi coin series—the 1961 “mule” notwithstanding—and were coined with the dates 1960, 1961 and 1964. The pieces dated 1961 are by far the most common of this somewhat tough type, with a mintage more than three times the combined total of the ’60 and ’64 coins.
A note about the 1961 “mule” (for possible use in some future junkbox!)—something like 50 examples exist of a copper-nickel piece that pairs the “1F Rwanda-Burundi” reverse of this coin with a 1961 “Ceres” obverse of the contemporary Belgian 1-franc.
Rwanda and Burundi each gained independence in 1962, cancelled their monetary union in 1964, and—having been replaced by two new national currencies—these short-lived Rwanda-Burundi 1-franc pieces disappeared from area pockets and purses as had the Belgian Congo francs and the German East African rupies before them.
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