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10 Rials - Mohammad Rezā Pahlavī
| Issuer | Bank Melli Iran |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Harrison & Sons Limited, High Wycombe, United Kingdom (1839-1997) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A panoramic landscape vignette fills the central field, rendered in intaglio, illustrating a rural scene at the foot of the Alborz Mountains near the Caspian coast, with rolling foothills, cypress and poplar trees, and a small farmhouse in the foreground. The composition is framed by an intricate guilloche border in purple, with the denomination in Persian numerals repeated in each corner. The overall printing is in a uniform purple-brown tone. |
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| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Portrait watermark of Shah Mohammad Rezā Pahlavī embedded in the paper. |
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| Comments |
This note was issued during the joint Anglo-Soviet occupation of Iran, when British and Soviet forces had deposed Reza Shah in August 1941 and installed his son Mohammad Reza. Bank Melli, nominally an Iranian institution, was operating under conditions of severe external pressure — the occupation disrupted supply chains, fueled inflation, and created genuine shortages of small-denomination notes in circulation. Harrison & Sons had held the Bank Melli contract since the early 1930s, though wartime logistics made delivery from High Wycombe considerably less routine than it had been.
P#40 is frequently found with folds and handling wear consistent with heavy urban bazaar use — the 10-rial denomination was a working note, not a saved one.