Catalog
10 Piastres
| Issuer | République Syrienne |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
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| Reference(s) | P#56 |
| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by Arabic calligraphic text reading 'الجمهورية السورية' across the upper field, set over an intricate guilloche underprint that fills the note. An oval vignette at right presents a mosque with twin minarets mirrored in water against a landscape background, rendered in fine intaglio line work. The denomination in Arabic numerals and script, a manuscript signature, and the date and printer's imprint appear along the lower border. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in purple-rose tones over a fine guilloche underprint ground, with 'REPUBLIQUE SYRIENNE' in large bold letterpress across the top. A large central numeral '10' is set within an elaborate lathe-work oval rosette, with 'PIASTRES' superimposed across it; the numeral '10' is repeated in the lower left and right corners. The inscription 'DAMAS LE 15 FEVRIER 1944' runs along the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
Syria's 1944 issues were produced under the French Mandate's final years, when the Free French authorities in the Levant were scrambling to maintain economic control amid rising nationalist pressure and wartime supply constraints. Printing in Alexandria rather than France or Beirut was a direct consequence of wartime disruption — metropolitan French printing facilities were unavailable, and the Moharrem Press had already been supplying emergency currency work to Allied-aligned administrations across the region.
P#56 is among the lower denominations of this issue and circulated heavily. Syrian independence was formally proclaimed in 1944, making these notes politically awkward instruments — issued under a republican name that France was not yet fully prepared to honor.