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Palestine Mandate Coins – Decision to Mint

In September, 1923, the formal start of the British Mandate for Palestine went into effect. At that time, there was no stable economic system. There were a great number of coins and currencies used from different countries: Turkish, American, numerous European, Russian and Indian. Stamps were sometimes used. Barter was common. Something had to be done. On July 24, 1922, in London, the League of Nations formalized the Palestine Mandate, by issuing a covenant that had 28 articles. Article 22 was concerned with the economy. It read: “English, Arabic and Hebrew shall be the official languages of Palestine. Any statement in Arabic on stamps or money in Palestine shall be repeated in Hebrew and any statement or inscription in Hebrew shall be repeated in Arabic.”

With the adoption of this covenant, the basis for the monetary system was formalized. This led the British to create the Palestine Currency board to develop and design the coins and currency for Palestine.

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