500 Pounds

Enschedé printed this series across a remarkably long window — sixteen years — during which Syria weathered the post-1973 oil boom, deep involvement in the Lebanese Civil War, and the severe economic dislocations of the 1980s that pushed the black-market exchange rate to roughly ten times the official peg. That gap between official and street value meant high-denomination notes like this one moved through informal channels far more than through the banking system proper.

The P#105 watermark is the sole mechanical security feature, modest by Enschedé's own standards for the period.