Description and research notes
Issued cheque from the Cairo branch of Banco di Roma, dated 17 November 1928 and printed with the iconic Capitoline Wolf and twins emblem, reflecting the bank’s Italian imperial identity. The engraved header, produced by Ditta Farmani-Roma, demonstrates the high-quality typographic and ornamental standards applied to Italian financial documents during the interwar period.
The cheque is fully completed in manuscript and bears the bank’s Cairo office stamp along with the standard internal verification marks. Banco di Roma operated several Middle Eastern branches as part of Italy’s expanding commercial ambitions following World War I, and its Cairo office served a network of Italian expatriates, merchants, and industrial interests.
Cairo-issued Banco di Roma cheques from the 1920s are extremely scarce. Most surviving examples are fragmentary or reduced to fiscal-stamp pieces. Complete forms with intact engraving, full handwritten entries, and original branch validation stamps represent some of the most desirable Italian–Egyptian financial artifacts from the interwar period and form a crucial link in documenting Rome’s economic footprint in Egypt.