Description and research notes
Steel-engraved master vignette of Omar al-Mukhtar, the resistance leader whose image became the anchor of Libya’s republican currency. Vignette proofs like this capture the die at an early working state: deeper modeling in the cheek and temple, tighter hair work, and heavier line-weight in the scarf folds than seen on most issued notes.
The piece shows classic English-school intaglio traits—dense cross-hatch fields cut to carry a pronounced ink relief, then lightly burnished to avoid glare. Comparing this proof to the later note portraits demonstrates how retouching softened the expression for mass production while preserving enough bite for counterfeit resistance.