Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Piastres
| Issuer | Libyan Currency Commission |
|---|---|
| Year | 1951 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pound (1951-1971) |
| 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 | The obverse is printed in rose-red on a light ground, centred on a vignette of the colonnaded Roman Forum ruins at Cyrene, with a tall palm tree to the right. The denomination numeral '5' appears in each lower corner, with the serial number in both Arabic-Eastern numerals at upper left and Western numerals at lower right. Arabic inscriptions occupy the upper register, including the country title and legal tender clause, with two manuscript signatures of Currency Commission officials in the lower portion. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Libyan Currency Commission was a transitional body, not a central bank — it existed solely to provide Libya with a functioning currency in time for independence on 24 December 1951. Britain and France administered different parts of the country under UN mandate, and the Commission was the compromise mechanism that allowed a unified currency to be issued across all three territories: Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and the Fezzan. Thomas De La Rue handled the full series, as they did for a substantial portion of British-administered territories coming into independence during this period.
The Commission was dissolved once the National Bank of Libya was established in 1956, at which point this series was superseded.