THE IBRAHIM SALEM COLLECTION OF BANKNOTES FROM SYRIA AND LEBANON FETCHES A HAMMER PRICE OF £617,085 AT NOONANS

The Ibrahim Salem Collection of banknotes from Syria and Lebanon fetched a hammer price of £617,085 at Noonans Mayfair (16 Bolton Street) on Thursday, February 12, 2026. Comprising 478 lots, the sale saw very competitive bidding in the room resulting in 96% of the lots being sold with several dedicated collectors of the region competing for the best pieces.

Among the highlights of the sale was a very fine and rare example of an overprinted 50 livre note from the Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban, Syria, dating from 1 January 1939 with the serial number B.14 009. It decorated on the reverse with image of Al Baddawi Mosque in Tripoli and the surrounding gardens in northern Tripoli and fetched a hammer price of £24,000 against a pre-sale estimate of £4,000-£5,000 [lot 229].

Also from Syria was an incredibly rare Syrian 5 Livres of 1930 which realised a hammer price of £20,000 after being estimated at £5,000-7,000 [lot 197], while an incredible Syrian 25 Livres note from 1947, that had not been overprinted, sold for a hammer price of £17,000 against an estimate of £7,000-9,000. Only a minuscule number of these notes exist today [lot 336].  

Elsewhere in the sale, an exceptionally rare large-format specimen 250 Livres note from the Banque de Syrie et du Liban, Lebanon, dating from 1939 with the serial number 0.0 000, which featured images of the Baptistry of St John-Marc Cathedral in Byblos, and the Sea Castle in Sidon on reverse fetched a hammer price of £13,000. This is considered as one of the key notes for the whole of Lebanon [lot 19]. An excessively rare printers archival order specimen 100 Livres note from the Banque de Syrie, dating from 1 July 1920, featuring images of the Bank of Beyrouth Headquarters building at upper centre, and the reverse showing landscape with mountains, city and river realised a hammer price of £11,000 against a pre-sale estimate of £5,000-7,000. Only two archival specimens were ever made for this note [lot 174]. And from the Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban, Syria, a 50 Livres note, dating from 15 April 1925, featuring on the reverse an image of Baddawi Mosque and the surrounding gardens in northern Tripoli, sold for a hammer price of £10,000 against an estimate of
£1,500-£2,000 [lot 194].

Mr Salem has always loved material from the printers such as proofs, specimens and above all, artworks.  There were many artworks and essays in the collection, with a notable highlight being a spectacular proof for 500 Piastres, designed by Lucien Jonas and featuring the conqueror Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque in Homs which sold for a hammer price of £10,000 against an estimate of £6,000-8,000 [lot 244].

As Barnaby Faull, Senior Banknote specialist said: “As an auctioneer I have had the good fortune to handle many of the world’s finest banknotes and the opportunity to see Ibrahim’s ‘Levant’ collection go under the hammer was tremendously exciting. I loved the variety Ibrahim has assembled in this collection over the years and one must give credit to the time and dedication it takes to build a collection of this scale.”