Catalog
10 Piastres tax stamp
| Issuer | République Syrienne |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945 |
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| Value | 10 Piastres (0.10 SYP) |
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| Obverse description | Printed in violet, the obverse is converted from a fiscal stamp (timbre fiscal) and carries a central vignette of a standing female figure holding a wheat sheaf, set within an arched decorative frame with geometric guilloche borders. The denomination "10 PIASTRES" appears in a panel at lower centre, flanked by the Arabic numeral ١٠ in a corresponding panel to the right. The issuer's name in both Arabic and French appears along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | الجمهورية السورية REPUBLIQUE SYRIENNE TIMBRE FISCAL 10 PIASTRES ١٠ قرش (Translation: Republic Of Syria. Tax Stamp.) |
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| Comments |
Syria's brief period of nominal independence under French Mandate authority produced some administrative oddities, and fiscal stamps pressed into emergency currency use rank among them. In 1945, with the Mandate crumbling and full independence effectively achieved by year's end, the République Syrienne designation on official documents was itself a political statement — the French had long resisted acknowledging Syrian statehood in unambiguous terms.
Whether this piece circulated as a genuine monetary substitute or functioned purely as a revenue instrument is a question the surviving examples rarely answer cleanly. Provenance matters here more than condition.