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500 Rials - Rezā Pahlavī 1st. portrait
| Issuer | Bank Melli Iran |
|---|---|
| Year | 1932 |
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| Currency | Second Rial (1932-date) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in blue, the central medallion carries the Imperial Iranian lion-and-sun coat of arms within a circular guilloche, surmounted by the Imperial crown. Denomination cartouches in Persian script flank the central vignette left and right, with the Western numeral "500" repeated in each corner; the American Bank Note Company imprint appears in the bottom margin. |
| Reverse lettering | بانک ملی ایران پانصد ریال (Translation: Bank Melli Iran Five Hundred Rials) |
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| Comments |
Bank Melli Iran was established by act of parliament in 1928, and the early note series issued under Reza Shah was a deliberate assertion of centralized financial control — the country had previously relied on the Imperial Bank of Persia, a British-chartered institution, to issue currency. These first high-denomination notes were produced by the American Bank Note Company in New York rather than any European firm, a pointed departure from the colonial-era arrangements that had kept Iranian monetary affairs under foreign influence.
Pick 23 is among the rarest of the early Bank Melli issues. The 500 Rial denomination saw limited genuine circulation given its value relative to prevailing wages, and surviving examples in any grade are genuinely scarce.