Catalog
100 Livres SYRIE 1939
| Issuer | Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban |
|---|---|
| Year | 1939 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 100 Pounds (100 SYP) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The face is printed in multicolour with an elaborate arabesque guilloche border and ornate corner rosettes. A bold black overprint reading 'SYRIE 1939' appears at top centre, above the central vignette of interlaced geometric medallions in the Syrian artistic tradition, with the Arabic denomination and bank title inscribed in panels to the right. Two manuscript signatures appear at lower left, with serial number printed in black at centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in warm ochre, green, and red tones with a richly decorated arabesque border. A panoramic vignette of the Damascus skyline occupies the central band, with minarets, domes and city walls rendered in fine intaglio line work, flanked on each side by ornamental urns emitting stylised smoke plumes. The denomination '100' appears in numerals at lower left and right corners, with the bank title and redemption clause in French inscribed above the central vignette. |
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| Comments |
By 1939, the Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban was operating on borrowed time politically — the French Mandate administration had already committed to Syrian independence in the 1936 treaty negotiations, and the entire currency arrangement was under review. This note was printed anyway, and then the war intervened. The 1936 treaty was never ratified by France, the Mandate stumbled on, and these notes continued to circulate through the chaos of 1940–41, including the brief Vichy-controlled period and the subsequent British and Free French invasion.
Serveau designed and Deloche engraved — a pairing that appears across multiple Banque de France colonial issues of the period. The 100 Livres denomination made it a significant-value instrument in daily commerce, and heavy use shows on most surviving examples.