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1000 Tomans
| Issuer | Imperial Bank of Persia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1890-1923 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | بانک شاه شاهی ایران ١٠٠٠ تومان هزار تومان (Translation: Imperial Bank of Iran One Thousand Toman) |
| Reverse description | Dark purple intaglio print dominated by an elaborate guilloche framework of four large rosette medallions at the corners and a central oval vignette containing the Persian Imperial Coat of Arms — a lion passant bearing a sword before a rising sun, enclosed within a laurel wreath surmounted by a crown. The denomination numeral "1000" appears in white lettering within each corner medallion, with the bank name and value legend arching across the upper and lower borders respectively. The printer's imprint appears in small type at the bottom centre. |
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| Comments |
The Imperial Bank of Persia was a British-chartered institution, granted a sixty-year concession by Nasir al-Din Shah in 1889 — it functioned as Persia's state bank while being owned and operated almost entirely by British interests, headquartered in London. The 1000 Toman denomination was the highest in the bank's series, and at the exchange rates of the time, represented a sum far beyond ordinary commerce. These were instruments of wholesale trade, government transactions, and interbank settlement.
Bradbury Wilkinson's intaglio work on this series is among the more technically accomplished banknote printing of the period. Survival at this denomination is genuinely rare — the combination of high face value, limited print runs, and Persia's turbulent monetary history after the 1921 coup meant few examples completed a full archival journey intact.