The history of rare and collectible Israel banknotes is the history of a nation going through changes and other transformations, not all of them easy. Collectible paper money from the modern state of Israel exists from its earliest days in the late 1940s, and looking at the notes is a window into a turbulent but committed past. Collectors interested in Israel’s banknotes may also look at the paper money from related and nearby areas such as Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, and Syria.
Early Israel Banknotes: Palestinian Pounds, Prutot, Lira, and Agarot
Notes were first printed in 1948 in Israel. However, since it was believed that the actual, public bills might not be printed in time, there was a series of provisional notes that could be used, just in case. As it turns out, the official notes weren’t delayed and so these provisional banknotes were destroyed. A scant few proofs made it through, and are extremely rare today.
Browse 216 current Israel banknotes for sale offers here
Early Israeli banknotes were issued in denominations of the Palestine pound (divided into 1,000 mils, singular mil) as well as the lire (singular lira; divided into 1,000 prutot, singular pruta). Some were vertical, though most were horizontal like conventional notes. They all featured Hebrew and Arabic. English was usually, but not always, present on either the front or the back. Israeli notes should, by and large, be fairly easy to identify for Western collectors.
Depending on the year of issue, you’ll see different issuing banks named on early Israeli notes. For example, look for the English phrases THE ANGLO-PALESTINE BANK LIMITED and BANK LEUMI LE-ISRAEL B.M. In 1958, the lire was kept but was now divided into 100 agorot (singular agora), through there were no banknotes values with that subunit. (There were 1/2 lira notes though, which technically would be the same as 50 agorot.)
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Sheqalim and New Sheqalim Israeli Banknotes, 1980s and Beyond
The currency of Israel was changed to the sheqel in 1980 (plural sheqalim). Notes were used in this currency for a few years, but in 1985 it was updated to the new sheqel (plural new sheqalim). This is the English phrase and spelling used on the banknotes of Israel themselves. Hebrew continues to dominate the banknotes of Israel, of course, though Arabic and English are included for practical purposes.
In recent years, Israeli banknotes (which now all bear the English legend BANK OF ISRAEL, which is בנק ישראל in Hebrew and بنك إسرائيل in Arabic) have seen some collectible experimentation going on, plus some special issues. For example, some recent notes have employed a vertical design, just like early Israeli paper money.
See also: Nagorno-Karabakh rare banknotes and collectible paper money
There have been commemorative issues and collector’s notes released as well. You may be interested several notes from 1990 and 1991 were issued in special packaging and continue to be beloved by collectors now; they’re not the cheapest Israel banknotes but are attainable with most people’s budgets.
Buying Rare Israeli Banknotes
There are many ways to go about collecting the paper money of Israel. With different central bank names, multiple issues from all eras, and several variations of currency and face values, it’s best to decide what kind of Israeli banknotes will be your focus, set your budget, and then scan online for sale listings, which change constantly.
Some sellers mistype the name of the country as “Isreal”, and the non-English pluralization of the currency (not to mention inconsistent transliteration of Hebrew) can cause some confusion. The listings on this page use Mega Ministore’s custom technology to extract all the best banknotes from Israel currently available. Revisit this page often to see the latest.
