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50 Livres
| Issuer | Banque de Syrie et du Liban |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in green on white paper, the obverse is laid out as a bon de caisse (cashier's voucher) with a geometric guilloche border framing the entire face. The denomination "CINQUANTE LIVRES" is inscribed in large lettering at centre, flanked by Arabic text reading خمسون ليرة and octagonal cartouches bearing Arabic legends at upper left and right. Below the central inscription, redemption terms in French and Arabic, the date "DAMAS LE 1ER AOÛT 1942", serial number YB, and two manuscript signatures above printed titles appear, with the numeral 50 at lower right and the bank name in Arabic script along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in green and displays a large central guilloche vignette of intricate geometric lathe-work, with the numeral 50 incorporated twice in mirror symmetry within the design. The composition is purely ornamental, consisting of layered diamond and rectangular guilloche panels with no textual inscriptions, framed by a plain border. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de Syrie et du Liban, operating under French Mandate authority, turned to the Government Printer in Jerusalem for this 1942 issue because wartime conditions had severed reliable access to European presses. The same Palestinian facility handled emergency currency work for several regional administrations during this period, making it a quietly pivotal institution in Levantine monetary history.
The 1942 series was issued under considerable political pressure — Free France was consolidating control over Syria and Lebanon following the July 1941 armistice with Vichy forces, and a stable, visibly legitimate currency was part of that consolidation. Notes from this issue circulated alongside British military currency and, in some areas, older Vichy-period stock that had not been fully withdrawn.