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The Banque de Syrie et du Liban was a French concessionary institution — privately held, nominally independent, but tightly bound to Paris. This series was printed by the Banque de France at a moment when both Syria and Lebanon had just obtained formal independence yet still operated under a currency arrangement the French were reluctant to dissolve. The monetary agreement wasn't terminated until 1948, and notes from this series circulated into that transition period.

Marguerite Dreyfus, who signed her work "Rita," was one of the more accomplished engravers in the Banque de France's atelier during the mid-twentieth century. Beltrand came from a distinguished family of wood engravers, though his work here was in intaglio.