200 Rials - Mohammad Rezā Pahlavī 2nd. portrait

Harrison & Sons won the Bank Melli contract in the late 1940s, a period when Iran's note production was being quietly restructured away from its earlier dependence on Persian-language presses. This 200 Rial denomination sits at an awkward moment politically — issued just as nationalist pressure around oil nationalization was intensifying, with Mossadegh's movement gaining traction in the Majlis. The young Shah whose portrait appears here would face a constitutional crisis within two years.

P#51 is worth watching for ink registration inconsistencies, a known characteristic of early Harrison runs on Iranian paper stock.