Catalog
10 Livres
| Issuer | Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban |
|---|---|
| Year | 1925-1930 |
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| Printer | Banque de France, France |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Arabic-language face with inscriptions in Arabic script at top identifying Grand-Liban and the issuing bank. A large octagonal guilloche panel occupies the left portion, with the denomination numeral 10 in red at right within a circular cartouche. The central field carries the Arabic text of the note's promise to pay, serial number, date, and two manuscript signatures. Decorative floral and arabesque borders frame the note on all sides, with alphanumeric control numbers in the upper and lower corners. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in rich red and blue tones with an elaborate floral and interlaced border running the full perimeter. At centre, a multicolour vignette presents the Temple of Venus at Baalbek, rendered in a painterly style with ruins, columns, and an arched gateway set against a cloudy sky. Denomination numerals 10 appear in each corner, and the principal inscriptions in French are arranged above and below the central vignette. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban was established in 1919 under French Mandatory authority, replacing the Ottoman-era Banque Impériale Ottomane as the currency-issuing institution for Syria and the newly created state of Greater Lebanon. This note belongs to the first substantive series produced for that mandate, printed at the Banque de France's workshops in Paris — the same facility producing French metropolitan currency at the time.
Clément Serveau was a well-regarded commercial artist whose work appeared across French colonial and mandate issues of the interwar period. Ernest Deloche's engraving work is consistent with Banque de France production standards of the late 1920s. The series ran across a wide date range, and individual specimens can vary in their hand-stamped or typeset date details.