5 Qirush / Piastres Counterfeit

The Banque de Syrie et du Liban issued aluminium 5 piastres pieces in the early 1950s as Lebanon and Syria still shared a common currency before their monetary separation. Lightweight aluminium coinage of this period was frequently counterfeited across the Levant, as the low intrinsic value of the metal made convincing fakes economically viable even at small denominations — the profit margin lay in volume, not in individual pieces.