5 Livres

The Institut d'Emission de Syrie was a short-lived institution, established after Syria's monetary separation from Lebanon in 1948 and dissolved when the Syrian Central Bank took over in 1956. This note falls squarely in that transitional window — Syria was issuing its own currency but had not yet built the institutional infrastructure to produce it domestically, hence the contract with Bradbury Wilkinson in New Cross, London.

Bradbury Wilkinson printed for dozens of newly independent or reconstituting states in the postwar decade. The watermark security on this series is relatively modest by the firm's capabilities, suggesting a cost-controlled contract rather than a prestige commission.