10 Livres LIBAN 1939

The Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban was a French-controlled concessionary bank whose note-issuing authority over the Levant mandates depended entirely on Paris — so it is no surprise that printing fell to the Banque de France. Clément Serveau, a prolific illustrator between the wars, supplied the design; Ernest Deloche handled the engraving, as he did for numerous Banque de France issues of the same period.

The 1939 date places this note on the eve of the Second World War, which would within a few years fracture the currency arrangements across Syria and Lebanon entirely. The Grand-Liban designation in the bank's name was itself already a political fiction by this point — Greater Lebanon as a distinct French-administered entity had been contested since its proclamation in 1920.

Pick lists this as P#13B, distinguishing it by signature combination from otherwise identical printings.