Catalog
5 Piastres
| Issuer | Egyptian Government |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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) | P#158 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Violet. The reverse is dominated by a central oval vignette of the Island of Philae with its ancient temple complex reflected in the Nile waters, a traditional felucca sailing boat in the foreground at right. The oval vignette is framed by an ornate engine-turned border of acanthus scroll and foliate guilloche work, with the numeral "5" positioned in each of the four corners within decorative cartouches. |
| Reverse lettering | 5. ٥ 5 ٥ (Translation: 5 5 5 5) |
| 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 |
Egypt in 1917 was under British occupation, and these government treasury notes — not central bank issues — were a direct administrative tool of that arrangement. The Egyptian Government series ran alongside British military currency in a market where confidence in paper was fragile and coin hoarding was widespread, particularly in wartime.
Barclay & Fry Ltd, a London security printer, handled the physical production. The watermark is the primary anti-counterfeiting measure — relatively modest for the period, but consistent with wartime economies in print specification.
P#158 belongs to a series that continued largely unchanged in format through the early 1920s, outlasting the political circumstances that originally prompted it.