Palestine Collection Sells for Millions and Rare Iraq Trials Surface
Rare bank notes from Palestine and Iraq drew strong bidding at recent auctions, with several pieces setting records and exceeding expectations.
Notes from previous governments in the Middle East received high earnings at two recent auctions. The first event at the Spring 2026 Maastricht Auction at Stack’s Bowers Galleries made over $2.6 million in sales for world paper money. Taking place at Maastricht MIF Money Fair on May 6, the 640-lot sale featured many pieces shown for the first time, like those from the Bay of Bengal Collection of Ceylon, the My Canh Collection of French Indochina, the Collection of Kazmier Wysocki, and the Tiber Collection of Italian Occupation Specimens.
Among the highlights of the event was the May 6 session of the sale with the Olive Sprig Collection of Palestine. The collection, showing 63 lots of Palestinian notes, garnered $1,063,840 in winning bids.
“The Olive Sprig Collection was one of the most talked about collections this calendar year in the World Paper community,” says Stack’s Director of World Paper, Aris Maragoudakis, in a press release. “Our marketing team continued to lead the industry in creative ways that really helped propel this rare grouping of material…It has never been more important to not just rely on the collection doing the heavy lifting.”
Marketing efforts proved successful, with many notes from the collection selling into the five figures. The prefix A 1927 500 mils (lot 50001) was won for $67,100, and, at a record-breaking $91,500, a 1927 prefix A 5-pound (50043) was realized. Additional sales include three of the highest-earning lots: a CU63 1927 50-pound specimen for $140,300 (50061), an issued 1929 50-pound VF30 for $97,600, and a 100-pound issue (50063) that earned a record-breaking $219,600.
Bank notes from another Middle Eastern country, the Gulf state of Iraq, caught the eyes of collectors at Noonan’s World Banknotes sale on May 27. One of the most talked-about pieces was a full set of 1990 trial notes issued by the Central Bank of Iraq, showing Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Never printed, this set debuted at auction after being held in private collections.
“This remarkable trio of notes was prepared by De La Rue…Following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, and the swift response by the combined forces of the United Nations, known as the First Gulf War, it was no longer politic for De La Rue to continue to print bank notes for Iraq,” tells Head of the Banknote Department at Noonans, Andrew Pattison, in a press release. “These three ‘specimens’ or 'proof’ notes featuring Saddam Hussein were in the very late stages of the design process, seemingly with everything ready to go, when the order was put on hold by the war. The 5 and 10 dinars have been known for several years, but are very rare, with at most a dozen examples of each known in various formats. The 25 dinars was suspected to exist, but this is the first full printed note ever found, and the first to come to market.”
The incredibly rare 25 dinars (lot 281) earned over its £5,000-£7,000 with a £10,000 bid, while the 10 dinars specimen (lot 282) achieved slightly above its £4,000-£5,000 at £5,500. The extremely rare 5 dinars specimen (lot 283) was given a £4,000-£5,000 estimate but saw a much higher win at £7,000.
More information about these events is found at stacksbowers.com and noonans.co.uk.
You may also like:
