Bank Melli Iran 500 rials (five Pahlavi) note with Reza Shah, 1317 (1938)
A 500-rial note of Bank Melli Iran. The right half is a uniformed profile portrait of Reza Shah; the centre is the crowned Lion and Sun emblem; both margins hold a tall guardsman in ancient-Persian dress. Everyday money carries the ruler's face, the monarchy's emblem and ancient Persian imagery, attaching their authority to an object every user handles.
- Date
- March 1938
- Period
- Interwar
- Made by
- Bank Melli Iran (National Bank of Iran)
- Country
- Iran
- Medium
- Banknotes and coins
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Pahlavi Iran
- Leader
- Reza Shah
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Theme
- Economy and finance
- Techniques
- Transfer
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (Commons PD-Iran; photograph also CC BY-SA 4.0)
Commons PD-Iran: works of a legal person expire 30 years after publication under the 1970 Iranian law. Note: Bank Melli Iran, dated Farvardin 1317 (March-April 1938). Photograph: Wikimedia Commons contributor, own work, File:500_Rials_banknote_Reza_Shah.JPG (CC BY-SA 4.0 and PD-Iran).
Text on the object
بانک ملی ایران پانصد ریال فروردین ۱۳۱۷ پنج پهلوی بازرس دولت مدیر کل هر کس اسکناس بانک ملی ایران را جعل کند یا با علم به جعل دارد و یا استعمال یا داخل مملکت نماید طبق ماده ۹۸ قانون مجازات عمومی بحبس با اعمال شاقه تا پانزده سال محکوم خواهد شد 500 (corners)
Bank Melli Iran Five hundred rials Farvardin 1317 Five Pahlavi State Inspector Director General Whoever forges the banknotes of Bank Melli Iran, or knowing them to be forged holds, or uses, or brings them into the country, shall, under article 98 of the general penal law, be sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour for up to fifteen years 500 (corners)
Printed lines read from the image; the boxed legal warning is in small type and is the best reading, with word boundaries uncertain. English is a literal machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader. Serial numbers and signatures omitted.
