Catalog
500 Tomans - The Imperial Bank of Persia
| Issuer | Imperial Bank of Persia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1890-1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Toman (تومان) (5000) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | بانک شاهنشاهی ایران ۵۰۰ تومان پانصد تومان |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in green intaglio on plain paper, the reverse is dominated by a large oval guilloche border enclosing a central vignette of the Persian imperial lion passant with a rising sun and laurel wreath, framed by two serial number positions reading K/A 00000. The arched legend THE IMPERIAL BANK OF PERSIA runs above the central oval and FIVE HUNDRED TOMANS curves along the lower arc, while the denomination 500 appears in large numerals at each corner within elaborate scrollwork cartouches. The inscription PAYABLE AT TEHERAN ONLY. is typeset across the top margin, with the printer's imprint of Bradbury Wilkinson & Co. at the foot. |
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| Comments |
The Imperial Bank of Persia was not a Persian institution in any meaningful sense — it was a British concession, chartered in London under the Imperial Bank of Persia Act of 1889, with the exclusive right to issue banknotes throughout Iran for sixty years. That monopoly was deeply resented by Iranian merchants and nationalist politicians, and would eventually be broken by Reza Shah's establishment of Bank Melli Iran in 1927, which absorbed the note-issuing privilege entirely.
The 500 Toman denomination was the highest in the series — enormous purchasing power in a country where most transactions were conducted in silver krans. Few were printed relative to lower values, and fewer still circulated widely outside Tehran's financial quarter and the bank's branch network in Tabriz, Isfahan, and Shiraz.
Bradbury Wilkinson printed the series on paper with security features well beyond what most contemporary Middle Eastern issuers could demand from local printers.