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500 Afghanis
| Issuer | Bank of Afghanistan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1939 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Portrait vignette of King Muhammad Zahir Shah in military uniform at left, set within an intaglio-printed frame against a fine guilloche underprint in purple and green tones. The bank title in Dari script appears at top center, flanked by the numeral 500 in Arabic-Indic script at upper right, with the national emblem centrally placed. Three manuscript signatures of bank officials appear along the lower margin, with the denomination repeated in both Eastern Arabic and Western numerals. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
Pick 27 was issued under Zahir Shah's government, and Bradbury Wilkinson — then among the most technically accomplished security printers in the world — produced the plates in London. The firm's intaglio work for colonial and semi-colonial clients during this period was consistently high quality, and Afghanistan was a regular customer for its higher-denomination notes through these years.
The watermark is the sole documented security feature, which was not unusual for the period but left these notes relatively exposed to local forgery. Afghanistan's banking infrastructure in 1939 was still thin outside Kabul, and high-denomination notes of this kind moved primarily through merchant and government channels rather than retail circulation.