Banque de Syrie et du Liban Currency & Banknote Values

The Greysheet Catalog (GSID) of the Banque de Syrie et du Liban series of Syria in the World Currency contains 81 distinct entries with CPG® values between $10.00 and $11,000.00.

Per the convention of 31 March 1939, the Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban (BSGL) became the Banque de Syrie et du Liban (Bank of Syria and Lebanon, BSL).

The Lebanese-Syrian monetary community had been legally abolished after agreements with Lebanon on 29 May 1937 and with Syria on 25 February 1938. In 1937, two years before the expiration of its original 15-year issuance authority, the Banque de Syrie was granted another 25 years to issue in Lebanon a Lebanese pound separate from the Syrian pound, both of which could be used interchangeably in either state.

Although the new currency was Lebanese in name, it remained a disguised French franc until 1941, when it was linked to the British pound sterling after the defeat of France and the invasion of Lebanon by the allied forces. Following its independence in 1943, Lebanon concluded a monetary agreement with France in 1948 separating the Lebanese pound from the unstable French franc (Law of 24 May 1949).