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1 Livre
| Issuer | Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban |
|---|---|
| Year | 1930 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | بنك كبير ليرة واحدة 05060164 L.203 |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in warm brown and blue-grey tones within a rich arabesque border of geometric latticework and floral guilloche. At left, the bank title BANQUE DE SYRIE ET DU GRAND-LIBAN is set in a rectangular panel, while a central landscape vignette presents a panoramic coastal scene — likely Beirut or a Lebanese port — with a bay, sailing vessels, and buildings against a mountain backdrop rendered in fine intaglio line engraving. The denomination UNE LIVRE appears in large serif capitals to the right of the vignette, above a blank cartouche, with a redemption clause in French along the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban was a French Mandate institution — a concession granted to a private French bank, the Banque de Syrie et du Liban's predecessor, to manage currency across territories carved from the former Ottoman Empire after 1920. The 1 Livre denomination was the workhorse of daily commerce in a monetary system designed primarily to serve French colonial trade interests, with the Livre tied to the French franc rather than to any local economic logic.
Bradbury, Wilkinson produced plates of consistently high intaglio quality during this period, and their work for Mandate-era issues is generally among the more technically accomplished currency printing of the interwar Levant. Pick 8A is distinguished from the related 8 series by signature combination — a detail that matters considerably for attribution and is frequently overlooked.