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500 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque de Syrie |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919-1920 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Piastres (5 SYP) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE SYRIE / البنك السوري / CINQ CENT PIASTRES OU CINQ LIVRES SYRIENNES / خمسمائة غرش أو خمس ليرات سورية / REMBOURSABLE AU PORTEUR EN CHÈQUE SUR PARIS À RAISON DE VINGT CENTIMES FRANÇAIS PAR PIASTRE SYRIENNE / BEYROUTH LE 1er AOUT 1919 / LE SECRÉTAIRE GÉNÉRAL / LE DIRECTEUR / 500 PIASTRES SYRIENNES |
| Reverse description | The reverse is dominated by a central oval vignette of a coastal city panorama, likely Beirut, set within an elaborate guilloche border with radiating lathe-work in dark green and rose tones. The denomination 500 appears in large numerals at the left in Western script and at the right in Arabic, with the bank title in Arabic at the top. The overall design relies on dense engine-turned patterns filling the surrounding frame. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de Syrie was established under French mandate authority in 1919, and this 500 Piastres note belongs to the bank's inaugural emission — issued at a moment when the political status of greater Syria was still genuinely contested. Faisal I was governing Damascus with Arab nationalist backing while French and British officials were dividing the region between themselves at the Paris Peace Conference. Notes from this series were circulating into a territory with no settled sovereignty.
Bradbury Wilkinson handled the engraving and printing from their New Malden works. Their involvement was purely a commercial contract — British printers supplying a French-mandated institution.