PREVIEW: BANKNOTES 1-2 MARCH

British Imperialism did not just make its influence felt through occupation; the banking system was also an important means of securing power and policy.

This was the case in Persia in the late 19th century when the British effectively took control of the monetary system through the Imperial Bank of Persia and its founder, Baron Julius De Reuter.

By 1889, de Reuter had recaptured an exclusive concession for the bank that he had lost after first striking a deal with the Shah in the early 1870s as part of an agreement to build a railway system in the country.

Publicly floated in London, where it was effectively controlled, the bank had a monopoly on issuing banknotes for 60 years, challenging an age-old system of coin-based loans and exchange run by Jewish lenders, who were not subject to the strictures of Islam when it came to money lending, with a Western form of banking.

Convincing locals that paper money could be trusted in place of silver and gold was an uphill task, made easier only when even the remotest of branches ensured they had enough silver on deposit to back the issue, which was made up largely of small notes.

The bank played an important role in supplying the Shah with British loans over a period of 30 years from 1892, when intense international rivalries, particularly with Russia, dominated diplomacy there.

Colour trials for the high value 500 Tomans note at the time included a very rare surviving specimen that will appear in this auction.

Depicting Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (1848-96) on the obverse, the obverse and reverse uniface colour trials ND (1890-1923) bear no signatures or serial numbers and are perforated SPECIMEN.

“Of exceptional design by Bradbury Wilkinson and sealed in PMG holders, these specimen notes herald the birth of the modern banking system in Persia, later Iran, and so are symbolic of a key moment in history,” says Noonans’ Head of banknotes, Andrew Pattison.
The estimate is £20,000-26,000.