Catalog
1 Livre
| Issuer | Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban |
|---|---|
| Year | 1935 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in rose and pale blue tones with an intricate geometric border of Islamic-inspired arabesques and guilloche work framing the entire note. The centre carries the Arabic denomination لیرة واحدة (One Livre) in bold script, with a large blank oval reserve at left and the date of issue in Arabic text reading 1 February 1935 (أول شباط ١٩٣٥). Two manuscript signatures appear below, attributed to the Directeur Général and the Administrateur Délégué, with serial number and sheet number in red at top and bottom margins. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in brown and olive tones and centred on a panoramic landscape vignette of the Lebanese coast with mountains, harbour, and sailing vessels rendered in fine intaglio line engraving. At left, a decorative cartouche in Islamic geometric style bears the bank title BANQUE DE SYRIE ET DU GRAND-LIBAN in two lines, while the bold letterpress legend UNE LIVRE runs across the upper centre with GRAND-LIBAN above it. A blank oval reserve occupies the right side, and a redemption clause in French appears at lower centre, with the numeral 1 in a geometric panel at lower right. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban was a French-chartered commercial bank operating under Mandate authority — not a central bank in any modern sense, but the sole note-issuing institution for both Syria and Greater Lebanon from 1919 onward. By 1935, the political relationship between Paris and the Levantine mandates was under increasing strain, with Syrian nationalist pressure mounting against the mandate structure itself.
Imprimerie Chaix was a respected Parisian commercial printer with deep roots in railway timetables and illustrated periodicals — an unusual pedigree for a currency printer, and a reminder that the French mandate authorities were not routing this work through the Banque de France's more specialized facilities.
Pick 12 is among the scarcer issues of the series; the 1935 date falls late in the bank's interwar run before wartime disruptions rewrote the region's monetary arrangements entirely.