500 Israeli Pounds David Ben-Gurion

By the time this note entered circulation, the Israeli pound was already losing the battle against inflation. The 500-pound denomination — the highest in the series — had become necessary not because of any deliberate policy choice but because accelerating inflation after the 1973 Yom Kippur War had steadily eroded purchasing power. Within a few years, even this face value was functionally inadequate, and the entire pound series was eventually retired when the shekel was introduced in 1980.

Enschedé's long-standing relationship with the Bank of Israel produced consistently well-manufactured notes, though the security specification here is notably spare — watermark only, no security thread.