5 Livres LIBAN 1939

The Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban was a French-chartered institution operating under the mandate system, and by 1939 its days were effectively numbered — the mandate itself was being wound down politically, and the outbreak of war would accelerate the institutional rupture between Syria and Lebanon. This note was printed at the Banque de France's own workshops in Paris, a prestige arrangement that reflects the issuing bank's colonial-era relationship with French monetary infrastructure rather than any local printing capacity.

Soulas was among the more accomplished intaglio engravers working for the Banque de France in this period. Hourriez handled the reverse. The pairing was typical of how the BdF divided labor across complex multi-color intaglio jobs.