Description and research notes
This color trial specimen represents a pre-issue production stage of the Central Bank of Libya 10 Dinars note introduced in 1971, prepared during the immediate post-monarchy redesign of the national currency. Following the establishment of the Libyan Arab Republic, royal imagery was formally removed and replaced with revolutionary-era symbolism, most prominently the portrait of Omar al-Mukhtar, positioned as a unifying national figure and ideological anchor of the new regime.
Color trial specimens occupy a critical position within the banknote production sequence. They are not presentation pieces and not substitutes for issued notes, but technical print evaluations pulled during the final calibration of the intaglio face plate and associated tint stones. Their purpose was to test color harmony, ink density, and registration behavior under production conditions before full authorization of the circulating issue.
In this trial, particular attention was given to the interaction between the deeply engraved intaglio portrait and the multitone underprint. Omar al-Mukhtar’s likeness is rendered with dense cross-hatching and fine facial modeling, requiring precise balance between key plate pressure and background ink load to prevent tonal collapse or loss of detail at speed. Flesh tones, background hues, and ornamental fields were evaluated together to ensure legibility, contrast, and visual authority across the full note.
As is typical of true color trials, this specimen displays characteristics that differ subtly from the issued note, including serial format placement and internal control markings that were never intended for circulation. These elements provide direct insight into the printer’s decision process and the final steps by which the approved color palette and plate state were locked for mass production.
The note bears the overprint SPECIMEN OF NO VALUE and carries a low control serial within the A/75 prefix range, confirming its function as a non-circulating production reference. It was never monetized, issued, or released into banking channels, and its survival reflects preservation outside normal destruction protocols applied once production approval was completed.
At the time of cataloging, this is the only graded color trial specimen recorded for the 10 Dinars denomination of this series. PMG lists no additional examples of Pick 37cts, and no institutional or auction records document a second specimen. Its rarity derives not from condition scarcity but from production-stage uniqueness.
As a result, this piece stands as a primary documentary artifact of Libya’s early republican currency reform. Its significance lies in recording the precise moment when portrait, palette, and political messaging converged into a finalized banknote design, making it a museum-grade reference for the study of post-1969 Libyan monetary history and modern banknote production methodology.