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100 Rials - Rezā Pahlavī 1st. portrait
| Issuer | Bank Melli Iran |
|---|---|
| Year | 1932 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Purple on multicolor underprint. Front-facing portrait of Reza Shah in high cap at right, set against a vignette of the ruins of Persepolis at center left. Intricate guilloche borders frame the composition throughout. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Brown-purple intaglio print on plain paper. At left, a circular guilloche medallion bears the Persian inscription for one hundred rials; at center, a geometric lathe-work vignette frames the numeral 100; at right, a circular medallion contains the Imperial Iranian coat of arms with the lion and sun surmounted by a crown. The Persian calendar date 1 Mordad 1311 is printed at center below the central vignette, with the printer's imprint 'American Bank Note Company' along the bottom margin. |
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| Comments |
The Bank Melli Iran was only established in 1927, replacing the British-controlled Imperial Bank of Persia as the note-issuing authority — a deliberate act of economic nationalism under Reza Shah. This 100 Rial note belongs to the earliest years of that institution's operation, when the rial itself was still a newly standardized unit, having replaced the qran just five years prior.
American Bank Note Company was contracted for this series, a common choice among newly independent or modernizing states seeking internationally credible printing quality. The plates would have been engraved entirely in New York.