10 Dinars

This note was among the first issued by the Central Bank of Iraq following its establishment in 1947, but the 1959 date places it in the immediate aftermath of the July 1958 revolution — the coup in which the monarchy was overthrown and Faisal II killed. The transitional government moved quickly to assert new institutional authority, and updated currency issues were part of that process.

Bradbury Wilkinson's New Malden facility handled much of the Middle East's prestige printing during this period, and Iraq returned to them repeatedly through the 1960s. The watermark security on this series is relatively simple by the firm's own standards.