50 Piastres

Syria in 1942 was under Free French administration following the Allied campaign against Vichy forces the previous year. The Republique Syrienne designation was largely nominal — real monetary authority ran through the Banque de Syrie et du Liban, itself operating under political pressures from both London and de Gaulle's government-in-exile. Bradbury Wilkinson handled the printing in London, a practical arrangement given that Paris was occupied and the usual channels for colonial currency production had collapsed entirely.

Pick 52 is the 1942 reissue of a pre-war design, kept in production to meet wartime demand without the delay of commissioning new artwork.