The 1959 series was the first coinage of the newly proclaimed Iraqi Republic, issued less than a year after the July 1958 revolution that overthrew the Hashemite monarchy and executed King Faisal II. Replacing a currency that bore royal imagery required speed; Bradbury Wilkinson, long experienced with colonial and post-colonial transition issues across the Middle East, was the natural choice for a government needing competent work quickly.
Bradbury Wilkinson's New Malden facility produced the bulk of Iraq's mid-century paper currency, and the relationship predated the republic — continuity of printer across a regime change says something about how few firms could meet the security and volume requirements of a national issue.
The 1959 series was the first coinage of the newly proclaimed Iraqi Republic, issued less than a year after the July 1958 revolution that overthrew the Hashemite monarchy and executed King Faisal II. Replacing a currency that bore royal imagery required speed; Bradbury Wilkinson, long experienced with colonial and post-colonial transition issues across the Middle East, was the natural choice for a government needing competent work quickly.
Bradbury Wilkinson's New Malden facility produced the bulk of Iraq's mid-century paper currency, and the relationship predated the republic — continuity of printer across a regime change says something about how few firms could meet the security and volume requirements of a national issue.