Coinage of Rwanda

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A brass 20 francs coin was issued, in 1977 only. Both sides were designed by Frenchman Raymond Joly. Notice the very different font that he chose to use. The reverse design depicted a bunch of bananas on a tree.

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A brass 50 francs coin was issued, also in 1977 only. Again, both sides were designed by Frenchman Raymond Joly.

The reverse designs features a tea plant.

The image above shows the "essai" version of the coin. The standard coin simply omits the word "ESSAI".

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Flag of Rwanda.

Rwanda adopted a new flag on October 25, 2001.

From Wikipedia:

The flag has four colours: blue, green, and two forms of yellow (standard yellow for the middle band and what the Pantone system calls "sun yellow" for the sun). The blue band represents happiness and peace, the yellow band symbolizes economic development, and the green band symbolizes the hope of prosperity. The sun represents enlightenment.

The new flag represents national unity, respect for work, heroism, and confidence in the future. It was adopted to avoid connotations to the 1994 genocide.

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The national seal of Rwanda.

From Wikipedia:

The seal of Rwanda is the national symbol and used by the government. It was restyled in 2001 to match the color scheme of the new national flag. The text reads "Republic of Rwanda - Unity, Work, Patriotism" in Kinyarwanda. The central tribal devices, a stem of sorghum, a branch of a coffee tree and a traditional basket are surmounted on a cog wheel with the sun with its rays above, while two typical Rwandan shields protects them, one on the right and one on the left. They are encircled by a square knot.

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In 2004 a new design series was issued, although the coins were dated 2003.  The common obverse showed the country's new national seal.

The aluminium 1 franc coin featured a rice plant on the reverse.

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The 5 francs coin featured a coffee plant.

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The 10 francs coin featured a banana tree.

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The 20 francs coin was made of nickel-plated steel and featured a tea plant.

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The 50 francs coin was made of nickel-plated steel and featured an ear of maize.

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A 100 francs coin was issued in 2007. It was bimetallic and had a copper centre within a copper-nickel ring.

The reverse showed the denomination as 100 FRW (Rwandan francs).

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Here we see a traditional basket, of the type shown in the national seal.

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Here are some baskets on a 100 francs collector coin of 2010.

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Looking back at the older coins, we see that there are two versions of the original coat of arms.

The first version showed a fatter bird. This was used on the coins of the 1960s.

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The second version showed a thinner bird. This was used on the coins of the 1970s.
 
 

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In 2009, the name of the central Bank was changed to "Banki Nkuru Y'u Rwanda".
All coins were issued with new legend on the obverse.
1 Franc was not issued.