10 Francs 1959, Belgian Congo
| in Krause book | Number: 30b |
| Years of issue: | 01.12.1959 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Directeur: Firmin Peigneux (19 July 1948 – 11 April 1952), Le Gouverneur: Hector - Jules Martin (17.06.1954 – 3.10.1960) |
| Serie: | Banque Centrale du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi |
| Specimen of: | 15.01.1955 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 128 x 68 |
| Printer: | Waterlow and Sons Limited, London |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
The okapi (Okapia johnstoni) is a giraffid artiodactyl mammal native to the Ituri Rainforest, located in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Central Africa. Although the okapi bears striped markings reminiscent of zebras, it is most closely related to the giraffe. The generic name Okapia derives from the Lese Karo name o'api, while the specific name (johnstoni) is in recognition of the explorer Harry Johnston, who organized the expedition that first acquired an okapi specimen for science from the Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Avers:
On the photo is the colonial army of Belgian Congo in 1941.
Soldier in uniform is in lower left corner.
The Hut in the middle.
Denominations in numerals are in all corners. Centered in words.
Revers:
The gerenuk, Litocranius walleri, also known as the Waller's gazelle, is a long-necked species of antelope found in dry thorn shrubland and desert in the Horn of Africa and the African Great Lakes region. The word gerenuk comes from the word in the Somali language, Garanuug, meaning "giraffe-necked". Gerenuk are sometimes also called the giraffe-necked antelope. It is the sole member of the genus Litocranius.
Gerenuks have a relatively small head for their body, but their eyes and ears are proportionately large. Only the males have horns and they also have a more muscular neck than females. Both sexes have ruddy brown coats with a paler underbelly . They have short, black tipped tails. The gerenuk is easily recognizable from its distinctive long and skinny neck which can be elongated further if need be for activities like feeding off the taller brambles and undergrowth of the desert. It also has remarkably long slender legs which are another great advantage as they can gallop away into the distance at very high speeds from any form of predator trying to attack. However, because of the extreme length of their legs, they can be more liable to fracture of the leg bone. There have been numerous occasions[citation needed] in which gerenuks actually snapped their long legs due to tripping and stumbling along the ground. From head to tail, the gerenuk is around 150 centimeters (59 in.) long. Males are a little taller than females, at 89-105 cm. (35-41 in.) tall, with the females typically 80-100 cm. (31-39 in.) tall. The male is also heavier than the female, weighing 45 kilograms (99 lb.), while females weigh around 30 kg. (66 lb.). 
Denominations in numerals are in all corners. Centered in words.
Comments:
Gouverneur: Hector-Jules MARTIN (17.06.1954 - 3.10.1960).
He was born in 1899 in Cuesmes. After studies at the Provincial Institute of Industrial Hainaut, it entered the Bank of Belgian Congo. He was appointed Secretary
Management in Leopoldville in 1922, Director in Elizabethville 1927 and director in Brussels in 1945. When the Central Bank the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi was established in 1951 H.Martin was appointed the first Director and in 1954, Governor.
Commissioner Hoover Foundation for Development University of Brussels, since 1942. Administrator-Treasurer Belgian Foundation in Montana, 1949. Administrator and Vice-
President of the Savings Bank of the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi, 1952-1958. Administrator and Vice-President of the Credit Company in Colonat and Industry, 1953-1958. treasurer Honorary Officer of the Belgian Red Cross. administrator
Chairman of Study Financial Group of the National Institute for the development of Bas-Congo "Inga", 1958-1960.
Directeur: Firmin Peigneux (19 July 1948 – 11 April 1952).
Firmin J. A. Peigneux was born in 1904 in the village of Moha, Liège. His parents were Arthur Joseph Peigneux (1876-1942) and Flore Lega (1879-1952). He joined the colonial service and arrived in the Belgian Congo in 1925 at the age of 21. Peigneux spent his entire colonial career in the southwest of the Belgian Congo, in Bas-Congo, Léopoldville and Kasaï. In 1926 his supervisor said in an evaluation report, "This officer has the qualities needed to become an elite administrator in the short term." He was sensible, tactful and thoughtful in his dealings with the natives, and that had earned him the confidence of leaders and elders.
Pierre Ryckmans travelled through Bas-Congo District in 1930-1931 investigating labor conditions. He reached the territory of Thysville on 6 November 1930, where Peigneux was the administrator 1st class. He found that censuses had badly under-counted dependent women and children, and excessive numbers of Africans were being employed by the European companies and on the railway. The north of the territory, near the river, held the center of Kimbanguism. Peigneux showed Ryckmans examples of Kimbanguist chants, psalm-like hymns that proclaimed the glory of the pure and the confusion of the unfaithful, Black and White, when Jesus would return. They interpreted the Old Testament curses against evil kings as allusions to missionaries and administrators.
Peigneux became commissioner of Kwango District, with capital at Kikwit. He became Governor of Kasaï Province on 19 July 1948, replacing Léon A. Hofkens. He held office until 11 April 1952, and was replaced by Roger Le Bussy. Peigneux had been recalled to Belgium for health reasons. He was one of the few provincial governors who were openly socialist in their views. Peigneux was admitted to the Order of Léopold on 15 November 1946. He was promoted to the rank of officer on 19 October 1949.
Peigneux's signature as a director, and that of governor Hector Martin, appears on notes of the Central Bank of Belgian Congo and Rwanda-Burundi (Banque Centrale du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi) between 1956 and 1958. In 1957 he was elected a member of the International Institute of Differing Civilizations. He was a member of a commission of inquiry sent to Rwanda in January 1960 to report on the violence there in November 1959. He died in 1968 in Huy, Liège at the age of 64.
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