100 Israeli Lirot Banknote (Theodor Herzl)

100 Lirot Israeli Lira (Issued 1973)

Issued in 1973, the year of the devastating Yom Kippur War in which Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, this 100 Lirot banknote represents one of the most turbulent chapters in the young state’s history. The Bank of Israel continued to issue currency throughout the conflict as the government of Prime Minister Golda Meir mobilised the nation’s defences. The war and its economic aftermath accelerated the inflationary pressures that would eventually lead to the replacement of the Lira with the Shekel, making notes of this era a tangible record of a pivotal moment in Israeli monetary and political history. The 1973 series stands as a defining issue of the final decade of the Israeli Lira.

On the front, the dominant feature is a finely engraved portrait of Theodor Herzl, the Austro-Hungarian journalist and visionary founder of modern political Zionism, rendered in deep navy blue intaglio engraving against a pale blue-grey background. Herzl is depicted from the chest upwards, facing slightly to the left, his distinctive full dark beard and penetrating gaze rendered with considerable precision and depth of line. Behind the portrait, a horizontal architectural vignette depicts a large modernist building, identifiable as the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, with its colonnaded façade and broad stone plaza carefully engraved in lighter tones. The denomination numeral “100” appears prominently in the upper left and upper right corners in bold navy blue type, while the central text panel carries the Hebrew inscription “מאה לירות ישראליות” — one hundred Israeli pounds — in clear, bold lettering arranged over three lines. The issuing authority name “בנק ישראל” (Bank of Israel) appears in large Hebrew script along the lower portion of the note, with the year 1973 printed beneath it in both Hebrew and secular numerals. Two facsimile signatures appear in the lower left area, accompanied by Hebrew titles identifying the signatories as the Governor and a senior official of the Bank of Israel. A serial number is partially visible towards the right side. The overall colour palette of the front is dominated by cool blue and violet tones, with fine horizontal wave-line guilloché patterns providing a decorative security background across the full field of the note.

The reverse presents a detailed engraved view of a massive stone wall, depicted in blue, violet, and warm ochre tones, which is identifiable as the Jaffa Gate wall complex forming part of the Old City of Jerusalem. The stonework is rendered with considerable engraving detail, showing the texture and scale of the ancient limestone blocks, with a prominent arched gateway visible at the lower centre of the composition. The architectural engraving is executed in blue-violet tones, with the warm colouring of the stone visible through the guilloché background pattern that covers the entire reverse field in fine horizontal wave lines. The serial number 6782891436 appears twice — once in the upper left area and once towards the lower right — printed in navy blue numerals. The text “בנק ישראל” appears in Hebrew in the upper portion of the note, and “BANK OF ISRAEL” is printed in English along the lower margin, confirming the bilingual conventions of the series. The denomination “100” appears in the upper left corner and again in smaller form at the lower right, maintaining consistent typographic hierarchy with the front design.

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