Catalog
20 Tomans
| Issuer | Imperial Bank of Persia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1890-1923 |
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| Reference(s) | P#5 |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | تصویر ناصرالدین شاه قاجار بیست تومان بانک شاهنشاهی ایران مهر مامور دولت علیه ایران (Translation: The name of the city to be used is written at the top of the banknote . Imperial Bank of Iran Portrait of Nasr-ed-Din at right. Twenty Toman Lion and Sun & Payable Only at Teheran (In some cases the sentence (-- will only be used in Tehran--- فقط در طهران ادا خواهد شد --- ) is written above. Not on the right)) |
| Reverse description | Printed in brown-orange on a cream paper ground. The central vignette comprises the Imperial Iranian coat of arms — the Lion and Sun within a wreath — set within a horizontal oval panel framed by elaborate guilloche rosettes. Denomination numerals "20" appear in all four corners, with the bank name arched above and the value legend curved below the central vignette. |
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The Imperial Bank of Persia was a British-chartered institution — founded in 1889 under a concession granted by Nasir al-Din Shah — and held the exclusive right to issue banknotes in Persia for the entirety of its operating period. It was, in practice, a colonial banking instrument operating under Persian sovereign branding. The 20 Toman denomination sat at the high end of the series and would have seen limited day-to-day circulation given that most transactions in late Qajar Persia were still conducted in silver krans.
Bradbury Wilkinson printed the full series across a span of decades with minimal design changes, a common economy for low-volume high-denomination issues where plate longevity mattered more than visual refresh.