Catalog
5 Livres
| Issuer | Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban |
|---|---|
| Year | 1925-1930 |
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| Currency | Pound (1919-date) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is laid out on an elaborate geometric and floral underprint in muted earth tones, characteristic of Serveau's orientalist guilloche vocabulary, with a large blank oval reserve at centre-left framed by intricate arabesque borders. Arabic inscriptions identifying the bank and denomination occupy the upper and lower panels, while two manuscript signatures run across the central field below the Arabic text. Serial numbers and prefix letters appear at all four corners. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | سوريا بنك سوريا ولبنان الكبير خمس ليرات ٥ ليرات CL. SERVEAU FEC. L. LECLERC DEL. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban was a French concessionary institution — its notes were legal tender under the French Mandate but backed by the Banque de France, which also printed them. That arrangement made these notes functionally an extension of French colonial monetary policy dressed in local clothing. Serveau's design work, engraved by Leclerc on the obverse and Marguerite Dreyfus — known professionally as "Rita" — on the reverse, reflects the high craft standards the Banque de France applied to its own domestic issues.
Pick 25 is the rarer of the two signature varieties in the series.