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500 Piastres Siege of Khartoum
| Issuer | General Charles George Gordon (Governor-General of the Sudan) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1884 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Plain cream paper note of emergency issue, bearing a rectangular double-line border frame. At top centre, an elongated lozenge-shaped cartouche contains the denomination inscription in Arabic script. Below, a sunburst or circular seal encloses a handwritten serial number, flanked to the left by a large circular official stamp of the Sudan government. The body of the note carries several lines of handwritten Arabic text authorising payment, dated April 1884, with a manuscript signature at the lower right attributed to Gordon Pasha. |
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| Obverse lettering | خمسمائة قرش مصري هذا المبلغ مقبول ونجري دفعة من خزينة الخرطوم أو مصر بعد مضي ستة شهور تاريخه ٨ أبريل ١٨٨٤ توردون باشا |
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| Comments |
Issued during the ten-month siege of Khartoum by Mahdist forces, this note was produced by Gordon himself after the city was cut off and conventional currency became impossible to supply. Gordon improvised a paper money system to pay his garrison and maintain some semblance of civil order — signing each note personally, which is why the signature carries genuine historical weight rather than being a printed facsimile.
Khartoum fell on 26 January 1885, two days before a British relief column arrived. Gordon was killed in the assault, making every signed example a document from a dead man's final months.