Harrison & Sons held the Iranian contract through much of the 1960s, printing the bulk of the Pahlavi-era series from their High Wycombe facility. The 200 Rial denomination was relatively high-value for everyday transactions at the time — oil revenues were beginning to reshape the economy, but per capita income remained modest enough that a 200 Rial note represented serious purchasing power for most Iranians.
P#81 preceded the major design revisions that followed the 1979 revolution, after which surviving Pahlavi-issue notes were systematically overstamped or withdrawn. Unaltered examples from this issue become harder to find in original circulated condition precisely because so many passed through that redemption process.
Harrison & Sons held the Iranian contract through much of the 1960s, printing the bulk of the Pahlavi-era series from their High Wycombe facility. The 200 Rial denomination was relatively high-value for everyday transactions at the time — oil revenues were beginning to reshape the economy, but per capita income remained modest enough that a 200 Rial note represented serious purchasing power for most Iranians.
P#81 preceded the major design revisions that followed the 1979 revolution, after which surviving Pahlavi-issue notes were systematically overstamped or withdrawn. Unaltered examples from this issue become harder to find in original circulated condition precisely because so many passed through that redemption process.