10 Pounds

Bradbury Wilkinson held the Egyptian high-denomination contract through much of the mid-twentieth century, and this note falls within a print run that overlapped with a turbulent stretch of Nasserist economic policy — the nationalizations of 1961 reshuffled the banking sector dramatically, effectively absorbing private banks into state institutions. The Central Bank of Egypt itself was only formally established that same year, replacing the National Bank of Egypt as the note-issuing authority, which explains the tight issue window for this series.

Two distinct signature combinations appear on P#41, reflecting the administrative turnover of that period. El-Refay and Zendo did not sign simultaneously — collector date specimens help establish which pairing corresponds to which part of the 1961–1965 range.