500 Riyals

Qatar's monetary infrastructure was built rapidly following the country's independence in 1971 and the dissolution of the Qatar and Dubai Currency Board. The Qatar Monetary Agency — itself a transitional body, later replaced by the Qatar Central Bank in 1993 — commissioned Bradbury Wilkinson to produce this inaugural series, and the 500 Riyal denomination was the highest value note issued under it. At the time, 500 Riyals represented significant purchasing power in a country whose oil revenues were only beginning to reshape the domestic economy.

Bradbury Wilkinson's New Malden facility handled security printing for dozens of newly independent states during the 1960s and 1970s. The watermark remains the sole mechanical security feature on this note — a reminder of how thin the anti-counterfeiting infrastructure was for many first-generation Gulf issues.