Catalog
5 Piastres
| Issuer | Egyptian Government |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Currency | Pound (1916-date) |
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| Obverse description | Yellow-brown on multicolour underprint. The centre is dominated by an elaborate guilloche rosette in green and orange, with the denomination FIVE PIASTRES in English and Arabic flanking the numeral 5 in an oval cartouche. Bilingual text reads EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT CURRENCY NOTE at the top, with Arabic legends above and below; the issue date 22nd May 1920 and the notation ISSUED UNDER LAW NO. 14 OF 1918 appear in the lower left, alongside the manuscript signature of the Minister of Finance. Corner numerals 5 and the imprint BRADBURY WILKINSON & CO. LTD ENGRAVERS, LONDON appear at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | الحكومة المصرية السلطانية - أوراق مالية خمسة قروش صاغ EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT CURRENCY NOTE FIVE PIASTRES خمسة قروش صاغ ISSUED UNDER LAW NO. 14 OF 1918 22ND MAY 1920 ٤ رمضان ١٣٣٨ MINISTER OF FINANCE وزير المالية BRADBURY WILKINSON & CO. LTD ENGRAVERS, LONDON |
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| Comments |
Egypt's 5 Piastres note of 1920 belongs to a series issued directly by the Egyptian Government rather than the National Bank of Egypt — a distinction that mattered legally and politically. Under the capitulations system still nominally in place, the Egyptian Government had limited autonomous financial authority, making these small treasury notes something of an assertion of administrative control over petty currency at a moment when nationalist sentiment, following the 1919 revolution, was running high.
Bradbury Wilkinson's involvement places this firmly in the tradition of British colonial and semi-colonial currency production. The firm handled security printing for dozens of dependent or occupied territories during this period.