50 Riyals

The Beylik of Tunis issued paper currency in 1846 under Ahmad Bey I, who had already begun modernizing the Tunisian military and state apparatus along European lines. This note predates the 1881 French protectorate by thirty-five years and represents one of the earliest paper money issues from the Arab world — the series to which this belongs was printed locally rather than contracted to a European firm, which is unusual for the period and the region.

The riyal was a money of account tied to Ottoman monetary conventions, and 50 of them represented a meaningful sum. Survival rate for the entire P#A2 series is extremely low.