50 Livres

The Banque de Syrie et du Liban was a French concessionary institution — privately held under a concession from the French government — that retained its role as currency authority through the mandate period and into formal independence. By 1945, both Syria and Lebanon had technically achieved recognized independence, yet this note was still being issued by a French-chartered bank, printed in Paris by the Banque de France. That institutional inertia was politically loaded and deeply resented, and it persisted until Lebanon established the Banque du Liban in 1964.

Beltrand came from a distinguished French engraving family; his work on the obverse plate is characteristic of the Banque de France's interwar and postwar house style.