Catalog
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| Issuer | Libyan Currency Commission |
|---|---|
| Year | 1951 |
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| Currency | Pound (1951-1971) |
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| Obverse description | Green and orange note, intaglio-printed on a cream ground with an ornate guilloche border framing the entire face. At left centre, a fine line-engraved vignette presents the colonnaded ruins of an ancient Roman site — likely Leptis Magna — while a tall date palm rises at right; the numeral '10' appears in decorative cartouches at the lower corners. Arabic text at centre gives the denomination and issuing authority, with the serial number printed in orange at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in dark green on a cream ground, the reverse centres on an elaborate guilloche medallion of interlocking lathe-work rosettes with 'TEN PIASTRES' set in large serif capitals at its heart. The legend 'UNITED KINGDOM OF LIBYA' arches above the medallion, the numeral '10' occupies each corner, and the legal tender and issuing authority inscriptions are rendered in spaced letterpress above and below the central device. |
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| Comments |
The Libyan Currency Commission was a transitional authority established under United Nations auspices to manage the monetary affairs of the newly independent Kingdom of Libya — a country that came into formal existence on 24 December 1951. This note was part of the inaugural currency issue, meaning it was prepared and printed before the state it represented had legally come into being.
Thomas De La Rue produced the full series on tight deadlines to coincide with independence. The low-denomination piastres saw heavy use in a largely subsistence economy and survive today in collectible condition far less often than the higher values.