Catalog
5 Piastres
| Issuer | Egyptian Government (Ministry of Finance) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943-1945 |
| Type | Emergency banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | الحكومة الملكية المصرية أوراق عملة رسمية صدرت بمقتضى القانون رقم ٥٠ سنة ١٩٤٠ وزير المالية فروش |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in blue-grey on a light ground, enclosed within a fine guilloche lace border with floral corner ornaments and octagonal numeral cartouches reading '5 PIASTRES' at lower left and lower right. A large underprint guilloche rosette carrying the numeral '5' and the word 'PIASTRES' dominates the centre. Arabic legend of the issuing authority appears at top, with the English inscriptions 'ISSUED UNDER LAW No. 50/1940', 'MINISTER OF FINANCE', and 'EGYPTIAN CURRENCY NOTE' printed in letterpress, along with the printer's imprint 'SURVEY OF EGYPT' at the foot. |
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| Comments |
Egypt's wartime Ministry of Finance notes were a direct response to the acute coin shortage created by Allied military demand during the North African campaigns. Silver was being hoarded and melted, and fractional currency simply couldn't stay in circulation fast enough to meet daily needs. These small-denomination paper notes filled that gap — a practical wartime expedient rather than a monetary policy choice.
Printed by the Survey of Egypt, the government's own cartographic and printing bureau, which had handled official document production since the early nineteenth century. Keeping production domestic was both a security and a logistics decision — shipping work abroad during an active war was not an option.