Catalog
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| Issuer | Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban |
|---|---|
| Year | 1925-1930 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Obverse: Léon Leclerc Reverse: Marguerite Dreyfus (Rita) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse centres on an intaglio vignette of the Krak des Chevaliers Crusader fortress set within a large oval guilloche frame, with the Arabic geometric lattice underprint extending across the full field. The numeral 5 appears at upper left in red, and the inscription CINQ LIVRES is printed in bold letters along the lower portion. The bank title BANQUE DE SYRIE ET DU GRAND-LIBAN and GRAND-LIBAN are positioned at upper centre and upper right respectively, with a large blank oval medallion at right and the engraver's credit CL. SERVEAU FEC. / RITA SC. at the lower margins. |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
The Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban was itself a creation of French mandate politics — chartered in 1919 as a private institution under French control to serve as the currency authority across Syria and the newly configured Greater Lebanon. Printing was handled by the Banque de France, which lent the series a technical quality well above what most mandate-era colonial authorities managed.
Clément Serveau's design work here predates his better-known French colonial commissions by several years. The reverse engraving is credited to Marguerite Dreyfus — known professionally as "Rita" — one of very few women to hold an engraving credit at this level during the interwar period.