10.000 Rials

P#126A belongs to the first post-revolutionary overprint series, in which the new Islamic Republic dealt with an awkward practical problem: warehouses full of late-Pahlavi banknotes bearing the Shah's portrait. Rather than destroy the stock outright, Bank Melli applied overprints to render the royal imagery politically acceptable — or at least tolerable — for immediate circulation. The 10,000 Rial denomination was the highest in everyday use, which made managing its imagery a matter of some urgency.

The overprint solution was stopgap by design. Within a few years the series was replaced by entirely new issues, so P#126A had a short working life.