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1 Livre
| Issuer | Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban |
|---|---|
| Year | 1939 |
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| Reference(s) | P#39L |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | SYRIE 1939 بنك سوريا والبنان الكبير لیرة واحدة |
| Reverse description | The reverse presents a tripartite architectural composition rendered in fine intaglio, framed by elaborate Islamic geometric and arabesque border ornaments. To the left, the issuer's name appears in a decorative cartouche: 'BANQUE DE SYRIE ET DU GRAND-LIBAN'; the central panel carries a landscape vignette with the denomination 'UNE LIVRE' in large serif lettering; to the right, a blank oval reserve is framed within a matching ornamental arch, with a star rosette medallion at lower right and a legal redemption clause in French script along the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban was a French concessionary bank, its mandate extended repeatedly despite growing Arab nationalist pressure — this 1939 issue appeared as France was simultaneously managing Syrian independence negotiations and preparing for a war that would upend the entire Levantine monetary order. The note was printed in Paris by the Banque de France, which produced the series under tight metropolitan supervision rather than through any locally administered process.
Within two years of this issue, the fall of France and the subsequent Free French takeover of Syria complicated the note's legal standing considerably. The bank's concession was not finally terminated until 1956.