Catalog
50 Lire
| Issuer | Military Authority in Tripolitania |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a lion passant guardant atop a royal crown within an oval frame, flanked by oak branch sprays, printed in brown on a tan ground. The denomination "FIFTY LIRE" appears in large letters to the left and right of the central vignette. The issuing authority legend runs along the top in English and along the bottom in Arabic script, with the numeral "50" and "LIRE" repeated in each corner. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ISSUED BY THE MILITARY AUTHORITY IN TRIPOLITANIA FIFTY LIRE FIFTY LIRE 50 LIRE طبع بأمر السلطة العسكرية للطرابلس الغرب ٥٠ ليرة |
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| Comments |
The Allied Military Authority issued these notes across occupied Italian North Africa as part of the broader AM Lire program coordinated between the United States and Britain following the fall of Axis forces in Libya in early 1943. Tripolitania fell to the British Eighth Army in January of that year, and military currency was required almost immediately to replace the Italian colonial lire and prevent economic disruption in the occupied zone.
The AM Lire series is occasionally misattributed to a single printer, but production was split between facilities in the US and UK, and the two outputs are distinguishable by subtle typographic differences — a known headache for series collectors.