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The Banque de Syrie et du Liban was a French-mandated institution — a concession bank established under League of Nations oversight — which gave it the peculiar status of a privately held foreign bank issuing legal tender for two territories simultaneously. By 1939, the political ground was already shifting: the Hatay question had just stripped Syria of Alexandretta, and French control over the Levant was increasingly precarious as war approached Europe.

Bradbury Wilkinson handled much of the series production for BSL throughout the mandate period. The 1939 date places this note at the very edge of that pre-war window, before wartime disruptions to both printing logistics and the region's monetary arrangements complicated subsequent issues.