25 Piastres

Banque de Syrie was established in 1919 under French Mandate authority, effectively replacing the Ottoman Imperial Bank's monetary role in the Levant after the collapse of Ottoman administration. This note belongs to the bank's inaugural series — among the first paper currency issued under the new French-controlled order, denominated in piastres at a moment when the pound sterling, the Egyptian pound, and various Ottoman-era instruments were all still competing in local circulation.

Bradbury Wilkinson's involvement signals that Paris was content to outsource security printing to London for this series, a pragmatic choice given capacity constraints in postwar France.