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500 Rials - Mohammad Rezā Pahlavī
| Issuer | Bank Melli Iran |
|---|---|
| Year | 1948-1951 |
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| Printer | Harrison & Sons Limited, High Wycombe, United Kingdom (1839-1997) |
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| Obverse description | Dark blue, purple, and red note with an elaborate guilloche border framing the entire design. A portrait of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in military uniform occupies the right portion of the note, set against a finely detailed guilloche underprint. The denomination پانصد ریال (Five Hundred Rials) appears in large Persian script at centre-left within an ornate cartouche, with the bank title بانک ملی ایران and serial numbers in red at upper corners. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | BANK MELLI IRAN بانک ملی ایران پانصد ریال (Translation: Bank Melli Iran / Five Hundred Rials) |
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| Comments |
Bank Melli Iran had relied on British printers since the bank's founding in 1928, and Harrison & Sons' contract for this series continued that arrangement through the early years of Mohammad Reza Shah's reign — a politically loaded period given Britain's dominant role in Iranian oil affairs. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company dispute was building toward its 1951 peak precisely as these notes were in circulation, which gives the Harrison imprint a certain irony.
Pick 52 is the first high-denomination series to carry the new Shah's portrait following his father Reza Shah's forced abdication in 1941. The watermark is the sole security feature — modest for a 500-rial note at this value level.