Origin: Syria
Issuing bank: Central Bank of Syria
Year: 2021 / 1442 AH
Material: Cotton paper
State: Uncirculated stock.
Set of 3 modern Syrian banknotes: 50, 100 and 200 pounds, dated 2021.
Fresh banknkote not battlefield wallet trash. Printed for the Central Bank of Syria, with the funny extra detail: these 2021 notes are connected to Goznak, the Russian state printer. So is Syrian money, but printed by big Russian papermoney factory. Very normal geopolitics, nothing weird here, per useal on Peaporchik.
The notes show Syrian landmarks, architecture and historical designs. Cheap everyday money in Syria, but for collector outside the region they make a nice post-war / sanctioned-economy / modern Middle East currency set.
50 Syrian Pounds 2021
Theme: Ebla tablets and Al-Assad National Library in Damascus
Material: Paper
Size: 135 × 65 mm
Printer: Goznak, Russian Federation
Watermark: Arabian horse head and electrotype “50”
Small blue-green Syrian 50 pound note.
The obverse as Ugaritic/cuneiform-style ancient script from Ebla, while the reverse shows Al-Assad National Library in Damascus and a statue of Hafez al-Assad.
100 Syrian Pounds 2021
Theme: Bosra / Damascus landmarks
Material: Cotton paper
Size: 140 × 65 mm
Printer: Goznak, Russian Federation
Watermark: Arabian horse head and electrotype “100”
The 100 pound note shows Bosra-related ancient architecture on the front, including Bab al-Hawa / the Gate of the Wind and Bosra Amphitheatre. The reverse has Damascus imagery, including the Treasury dome of the Umayyad Mosque, the Central Bank building, and an ancient coin of Philip the Arab.
200 Syrian Pounds 2021
Theme: Hama waterwheel / Syrian architecture
Material: Paper
Printer: Goznak, Russian Federation, likely same 2021 fractional-serial issue family
The front shows the Baz al-Kilaniya noria, one of the famous Norias of Hama huge old wooden waterwheels on the Orontes River. These wheels were used historically to lift water from the river into aqueducts. Numista notes that the remaining Hama norias are now mostly unused and aesthetic, and Syria submitted them as a tentative UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.
The back shows the ceiling of the Temple of Bel in Palmyra.
The watermarks on these is incredible when hold up into the light.
Same for under UV.
