100 000 Livres

The 100,000 Livres is the highest denomination ever issued by the Banque du Liban, introduced at a moment when Lebanese currency had collapsed so catastrophically that even this note — worth roughly $66 at the time of issue — reflected how far the pound had fallen since the civil war years. The exchange rate, once fixed near 3 Lebanese Pounds to the dollar, had deteriorated past 1,500 by the early 1990s and continued sliding.

Giesecke & Devrient's Leipzig plant, a post-reunification continuation of the firm's East German operations, handled production. The hologram strip was a meaningful security investment for a note whose face value demanded it, even if purchasing power told a different story.