Catalog
5 Tomans Nasr-ed-Din Shah
| Issuer | Imperial Bank of Persia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1924-1932 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Toman (تومان) (50) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | فقط در ( نام شهر) ادا خواهد شد بانک شاهنشاهی ایران تصویر ناصرالدین شاه پنج تومان مهر مامور دولت علیه ایران (Translation: PAYABLE ONLY AT (city name) Imperial Bank of Iran Five Tomans) |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in green, the reverse is dominated by a large central guilloche rosette enclosing a bold numeral "5", framed by an elaborate interlocking scroll and floral border. The bank name arches across the upper portion within a curved cartouche, while the word "FIVE" appears in ornate serif lettering to the left and the denomination panel "FIVE TOMANS" is set in a solid rectangular cartouche at the foot. The printer's imprint of Waterlow & Sons Limited, London Wall, appears in small text at the bottom centre. |
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| Comments |
The Imperial Bank of Persia was a British-chartered institution, established in 1889 under a concession granted by Nasr-ed-Din Shah, and it held the exclusive right to issue banknotes in Persia for decades. That the bank continued printing notes bearing Nasr-ed-Din Shah's portrait well into the 1920s — long after his 1896 assassination and through the effective end of the Qajar dynasty — reflects the slow administrative inertia of a concessionary bank more answerable to London than to Tehran.
Waterlow & Sons printed the series, as they did much of the bank's output. By 1932, the newly consolidated Bank Melli Iran had absorbed the note-issuing privilege entirely, ending the Imperial Bank's monetary role in the country.