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10 Tomans
| Issuer | Imperial Bank of Persia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1890-1923 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Multicolour intaglio print with a portrait vignette of Shah Nasr ad-Din at right and the Imperial Coat of Arms (Lion and Sun) at left. Persian inscriptions appear across the face, with the bank name and denomination rendered in both Persian script and numerals. Guilloche underprint patterns frame the central design. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | THE IMPERIAL BANK OF PERSIA TEN TOMANS PAYABLE AT TABRIZ ONLY |
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| Comments |
The Imperial Bank of Persia was a British-chartered institution, founded under a concession granted by Naser al-Din Shah in 1889, giving it the exclusive right to issue banknotes throughout Persia. That monopoly was deeply resented — by the Persian government, by merchants, and eventually by nationalists who saw the bank as a foreign instrument of financial control. The note-issuing privilege was not surrendered until 1931, when Bank Melli Iran was established as the state central bank.
Bradbury Wilkinson produced the plates in London, and the notes were shipped to Persia for issue — a supply chain that created real problems during the First World War when distribution routes were disrupted. The series ran across an unusually long window, meaning date and signature combinations vary considerably, and individual cashier signatures were added by hand at branch level.