Catalog
5 Piastres
| Issuer | République Libanaise |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Piastres |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Purple intaglio-printed note with a guilloche border frame. The central vignette consists of a large decorative rosette enclosing the numeral '5' over the word 'PIASTRES', flanked on both sides by abundant cornucopia-style garlands of fruits and foliage in a finely engraved style. The legend 'REPUBLIQUE LIBANAISE' arches across the top, with numeral '5' repeated in the upper corners, and the date inscription appears in a rectangular cartouche along the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | REPUBLIQUE LIBANAISE 5 PIASTRES BEYROUTH LE 15 FEVRIER 1944 |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Lebanon's 1944 issues were emergency printings produced under severely constrained wartime conditions. The Mouammar Press in Aleppo was not a specialist security printer — its engagement here reflects the near-impossibility of commissioning work from European banknote houses during the occupation years, when France itself was only just liberated.
The choice of an Aleppan commercial printer left these notes notably vulnerable to counterfeiting, and the series is generally considered among the least technically sophisticated issues in Lebanese monetary history. Survival in any presentable condition is complicated by the thin wartime paper stock used throughout the run.