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500 Tomans - The Imperial Bank of Persia
| Issuer | Imperial Bank of Persia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1890-1923 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 221 × 152 mm |
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| Obverse description | Elaborate multicolour design in green, red, and black on an intricate guilloche underprint, with four corner cartouches bearing the denomination numeral in Persian script. A central ogival medallion carries the denomination پانصد تومان in bold Persian lettering against a red diaper-patterned ground. To the left, an oval intaglio vignette shows the Persian imperial lion-and-sun emblem with a crown above, accompanied by a Persian payability inscription; to the right, an oval portrait vignette presents a uniformed Persian dignitary in a fez with a white plume. The word CANCELLED is perforated across the lower centre, with manuscript signature positions and handwritten notations at top. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | بانک شاهنشاهی ایران ۵۰۰ تومان پانصد تومان |
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| Comments |
The Imperial Bank of Persia was not a Persian institution in any meaningful sense — it was a British concession, chartered in London under the Imperial Bank of Persia Act of 1889, with the exclusive right to issue banknotes throughout Iran for sixty years. That monopoly was deeply resented by Iranian merchants and nationalist politicians, and would eventually be broken by Reza Shah's establishment of Bank Melli Iran in 1927, which absorbed the note-issuing privilege entirely.
The 500 Toman denomination was the highest in the series — enormous purchasing power in a country where most transactions were conducted in silver krans. Few were printed relative to lower values, and fewer still circulated widely outside Tehran's financial quarter and the bank's branch network in Tabriz, Isfahan, and Shiraz.
Bradbury Wilkinson printed the series on paper with security features well beyond what most contemporary Middle Eastern issuers could demand from local printers.