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20 Rials Mohammad Rezā Pahlavī
| Issuer | Bank Melli Iran |
|---|---|
| Year | 1951-1953 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 Rials (20 IRR) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in shades of brown, the reverse carries a detailed intaglio architectural vignette of the Ali Qapu palace in Isfahan at centre, surrounded by trees and rendered in fine line work, with ornate guilloche rosettes filling the left and right panels. The English inscription 'BANK MELLI IRAN' runs along the upper margin and 'RIALS 20' along the lower margin. A line of Persian text below the central vignette identifies the depicted monument. |
| Reverse lettering | BANK MELLI IRAN بیست ریال عالی قاپو RIALS 20 (Translation: Bank Melli Iran. Twenty Rials. Ali Qapu [Isfahan]) |
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| Comments |
Bank Melli Iran's 20 Rial note of this period was issued under the most politically turbulent years of Mohammad Mosaddegh's premiership — the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1951 had triggered a foreign exchange crisis severe enough that ordinary import transactions became difficult to clear. De La Rue's involvement is worth noting: British-printed currency for an Iranian government actively in conflict with British petroleum interests is one of those quiet ironies the banknote record preserves when political histories don't.
The Pick 55 series used a single watermark as its primary security feature, modest by De La Rue's own standards of the period. Mosaddegh was ousted in August 1953, and the note's issue window closes precisely there.