500 Rials

This is P-104 — the Shah-era 500 Rial note — overprinted to legitimize it for circulation under the new Islamic Republic following the February 1979 revolution. Two distinct signature combinations exist because the transitional government cycled through central bank governors and finance ministers rapidly in its first months; Mehran and Ansari represent the earliest post-revolution appointments, while Khoshkish and Yeganeh reflect a subsequent reshuffle.

The decision to overprint existing De La Rue stock rather than issue entirely new notes was driven by necessity — redesigning and commissioning new currency takes time a revolutionary government didn't have.