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500 Afghanis
| Issuer | Da Afghanistan Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1979 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Goznak (Гознак, Экспедиция заготовления государственных бумаг), Russia (1818-date) |
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| Obverse description | The bank arms with an equestrian figure at top centre, flanked by intricate guilloche underprint. To the right, a vignette of horsemen engaged in the traditional Buzkashi game is rendered in intaglio. Denomination numerals and Arabic script inscriptions are placed at the upper corners. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central vignette presents a detailed intaglio view of the Bala Hissar fortress in Kabul, reflected in water below, set within an elaborate guilloche border. The bank name 'Da Afghanistan Bank' appears in Latin script along the top margin, with denomination '500' and 'AFGHANIS' inscribed at the lower right. Violet and green guilloche rosettes and decorative scrollwork form the multicolour underprint. |
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| Comments |
The 1979 issue date places this note at an acutely uncomfortable moment: the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan had seized power in the Saur Revolution of April 1978, and Soviet forces would cross the border in December 1979. Having Da Afghanistan Bank's currency printed at Goznak in Moscow was not unusual for Soviet-aligned states — the same facility produced notes for several Warsaw Pact countries and friendly regimes — but it does give the provenance a particular political weight here.
Goznak's involvement with Afghan currency production extended across multiple series through this period, making printer attribution on individual notes within the P#59 run occasionally difficult without reference to paper and watermark characteristics.