Notaphily (Paper Currency)
Bank banknotes
Al-Ahram, January 14, 1899
A news item published in Al-Ahram newspaper in January 1899 stated that during a visit by an Al-Ahram correspondent to the National Bank of Egypt, the Governor of the National Bank, Sir Elwyn Palmer, showed him the banknotes that the bank would issue. The correspondent mentioned that they had beautiful drawings, including a drawing of the Sphinx for fifty piasters, a drawing of a camel for one hundred piasters, a drawing of the Pyramids for five pounds, a drawing of a steamer on the Nile for ten pounds, and a drawing of Karnak for twenty pounds.
It is most likely that these pieces are nothing more than the special editions (cancelled versions), as the actual pieces were not released until March of the same year. As for the twenty pounds, there are more than one possibility for it:
1- It may have been mentioned in error instead of the fifty pounds, which actually bears an image of the Karnak Temple on its design.
2- There was a twenty-pound note; the paper was offered but not issued, and the fifty-pound note was issued later, and the paper arrived later from England.
It is worth noting that the fifty-pound note featured a picture of the Ramesseum temple on the west bank of Aswan. Therefore, the explanation is directed between the drawing shown on the fifty-pound note and the drawing mentioned in the news, where a picture of the Karnak temple was mentioned. We leave you with the news and examples of pictures of the spice pieces for the first issue.
Note: The images of the displayed items are taken from websites on the Internet.
Dr. Mazen Ibrahim
