Watch List notes:

Iraq National Bank Seventh issue 5 Dinars Pick 40b Law of 1947 (1955) signature Abdul Ilah Hafiudh serial number F011834 and variety with small head watermark, GVF - EF pressed Exceptionally Rare and widely collected. In red on multicolour featuring the popular thick lips portrait of King Faisal II as an adolescent at right obverse. The reverse depicting an ancient carving illustrating Hamurabiy yatasallam al-sharia (King Hammurabi receives the Law), Hammurabi (at left) is in conversation with the sun god Shamash. Hammurabi was the King of Babylon between 1792 and 1750 BC and, although not one of the greatest of the Babylonian kings, he is known because of this stele which contains the code of laws. The illustration is adapted from the famous diorite stele, discovered in 1901-02, which contains the laws of Hammurabi . Printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. This note is a fine example of the last issue for the National Bank before it became Central Bank of Iraq. The Iraqi revolution of 1958 lead to monumental change in the rule and administration of Iraq which lead to significant changes in the banknotes circulating in Iraq. Although the Bank's title changed in July 1956 during the last years before the monarchy was overthrown in 1958, the Central Bank's first issued notes were released into circulation on 5th February 1959 (for a full story see 'The First Bank Notes of Republican Iraq' in IBNS Journal Volume 44 Number 4).

Estimate: 400-700 GBP