1/2 Qirsh / Piastre

Syria's coinage of the mid-1930s was issued under the French Mandate authority, with the Banque de Syrie et du Liban controlling monetary affairs rather than any Syrian governmental body. These small-denomination pieces were struck at the Paris Mint, identifiable by the torch privy mark, during a period when Syrian nationalists were pushing hard against the Mandate structure — the general strike of 1936 and the Franco-Syrian Treaty negotiations ran almost concurrently with this coin's production window.