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5 Piastres 1955, Libya

in Krause book Number: 5
Years of issue: 04.1955
Edition: 4 000 000
Signatures: Chairman of the Currency Commission, His Excellency: Mahmoud Bey Munatasser, Libyan member of the Commission: Al-Sayed Abdul Razak Shaglouf
Serie: Treasury Law of 24.10.1951
Specimen of: 04.1955
Material: Cotton fiber
Size (mm): 114 х 59
Printer: TDLR (Thomas de la Rue & Company), London

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5 Piastres 1955

Description

Watermark:

Avers:

5 Piastres 1955

Second Issue.

The serial numbers continue to be similar to the first series, but the letters assigned to each denomination have changed. The assignations are now:

A 10 pounds

B 5 pounds

C 1 pound

D ½ pound

G ¼ pound

K 10 piastres

L 5 piastres

While the sample set to test the consistent use of these letters has been small, it is believed that the use of these letters is constant for all denominations. Although the use of the letters in the serial numbers on the notes printed by Bradbury Wilkinson remain the same as the first issue, the letters used on the De La Rue notes have changed. A peculiarity of this change is that the ¼-pound notes use ‘G’ in the lower right serial number and the Arabic letter ‘jiim’ for the serial number in the upper right. The letter ‘jiim’ is usually transliterated as ‘J’ in English and not ‘G’.

The exact date of the issue of the notes of the second series is unknown, but some indication is given in the Reports of the Currency Commission. The Third Report of the Libyan Currency Commission, for the period ending 31 March 1955, states: ‘A new design of notes is in course of preparation and should be available in the early months of the new financial year.’ The Fourth Report of the Libyan Currency Commission, for the year ended 31 March 1956, states: ‘During the year under review notes of new design have been issued and are circulating as legal tender jointly with the notes of the original issue.’ Therefore, it is probable that the notes were introduced as required between April and August 1955; that is, during the first four months of the financial year (which ran from 1 April to 31 March).

libya CyreneOn left side are the ruins of ancient forum in Cyrene.

It is believed to have been dedicated to Julius Caesar.

This was first built by the Greeks, or rather King Ptolemy 8 of Egypt, as a gymnasium in the II century BCE. The Romans converted it into a forum in the I century CE.

Its size is 96 by 85 meters, and since it is stripped of the main adornments, it feels even larger.

A forum of a Roman city served mainly as a meeting place for political meetings. The buildings to the north were law courts. Also to the forum there was a civil basilica and in the very middle, a temple. (Looklex Libya)

Cyrene (Ancient Greek: Κυρήνη Kyrēnē) was an ancient Greek and Roman city near present-day Shahhat, Libya. It was the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica, that it has retained to modern times.

Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar uplands. The city was named after a spring, Kyre, which the Greeks consecrated to Apollo. It was also the seat of the Cyrenaics, a famous school of philosophy in the III century BC, founded by Aristippus, a disciple of Socrates. It was then nicknamed the "Athens of Africa".

On the right side is a palm tree with two branches, crossed at the bottom.

Revers:

5 Piastres 1955

Pattern.

Denominations in numerals are in all corners, in words centered.

Comments:

About the history of Libyan pound from 1942 till 1955 you can read here Peter Symes