1/2 Pound

Libya's first independent currency series, issued in 1952 after the country's emergence as a federal kingdom in December 1951 under King Idris I. Bradbury Wilkinson had an established relationship with newly independent and post-colonial governments during this period — their New Malden facility produced notes for dozens of emerging states, and this series was among the earlier commissions from a newly sovereign Arab nation.

The half-pound denomination was unusual for the region; most contemporary Arab currency systems did not issue fractional pound notes at this level, reflecting the particular demands of Libya's three-province federal structure and its predominantly rural, low-cash economy at the time of independence.