The Israeli pound or Israeli lira was the currency of the State of Israel from 9 June 1952 until 23 February 1980. Its symbol was "I£". The Israeli pound replaced the Palestine pound and was also pegged to the pound sterling at par. It was replaced by the shekel on 24 February 1980, at the rate of 1 shekel = 10 Israeli pounds, which was in turn replaced by the new shekel in 1985. Before the new currency was brought in, the Anglo-Palestine Bank issued banknotes denominated in Palestine pounds. They were in Hebrew and Arabicjunayh filisţīnī. On 1 May 1951, all the assets and liabilities of the Anglo Palestine Bank were transferred to a new company called Bank Leumi Le-Yisrael and the currency name became: lira yisraelit in Hebrew, junayh isrāīlī in Arabic, and Israel pound in English. The new currency was issued in 1952, and entered circulation on June 9. From 1955, after the Bank of Israel was established and took over the duty of issuing banknotes, only the Hebrew name was used.
History
The British Mandate of Palestine was created in 1918. In 1927 the Palestine Currency Board, established by the British authorities, and subject to the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, issued the Palestine pound which was legal tender in Mandate Palestine and Transjordan. The Palestine pound was equal in value and pegged to the pound sterling, and divided into 1000 mils. The Mandate came to an end on 14 May 1948, but the Palestine pound continued in circulation until new currencies replaced it. In Israel, the Palestine pound continued in circulation until the Israeli pound was adopted in 1952. The Israeli pound was subdivided into 1000 prutot. Like the Palestine pound, the Israeli pound was pegged to the pound sterling at par. In August 1948, new banknotes were issued by the London-based Anglo-Palestine Bank, owned by the Jewish Agency. The new coins were the first to bear the new state's name, and the banknotes had "The Anglo-Palestine Bank Limited" written on them. While the first coins minted by Israel still bore the name "mil", the next ones bore the Hebrew name prutah. A second series of banknotes was issued after the Anglo-Palestine Bank moved its headquarters to Tel Aviv and became the Bank Leumi. The pegging to the pound sterling was abolished on 1 January 1954, and in 1960, the subdivision of the pound was changed from 1000 prutot to 100 agorot. During the 1960s, a debate over the non-Hebrew name of the Israeli currency resulted in a law ordering the Minister of Finance to change the name pound into a Hebrew name, shekel. The law allowed the minister to decide on the date for the change. The law came into effect in February 1980, when the Israeli government introduced the Israeli shekel, at a rate of 10 pounds = 1 shekel. On 1 January 1986, the old shekel was replaced by the Israeli new shekel at a ratio of 1000:1.
Coins
Israel's first coins were aluminium 25 mil pieces, dated 1948 and 1949, which were issued in 1949 before the adoption of the pruta. Later in 1949, coins were issued in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 250 prutah. The coins were conceived, in part, by Israeli graphic designerOtte Wallish. All coins and banknotes issued in Israel before June 1952 were part of the Palestine pound. In 1960, coins were issued denominated in agora. There were 1, 5, 10 and 25 agorot pieces. In 1963, 1/2 and 1 pound coins were introduced, followed by 5 lirot coins in 1978.
Mil (1949)
Pruta (1949–1960)
Agora (1960–1978)
Banknotes
In 1948, the government issued fractional notes for 50 and 100 mils. The Anglo-Palestine Bank issued banknotes for 500 mils, 1, 5, 10 and 50 lirot between 1948 and 1951. In 1952, the government issued a second series of fractional notes for 50 and 100 prutah with 250 prutah notes added in 1953. Also in 1952, the "Bank Leumi Le-Israel" took over paper money production and issued the same denominations as the Anglo-Palestine Bank except that the 500 mils was replaced by a 500 prutah note. The Bank of Israel began note production in 1955, also issuing notes for 500 pruta, 1, 5, 10 and 50 lirot. In 1968, 100 lirot notes were introduced, followed by 500 lirot notes in 1975.
Bank Leumi Series (1952)
First Series of the Pound (1955)
Second Series of the Pound (1959)
Third Series of the Pound (1970)
Fourth Series of the Pound (1975)
Features for the blind
In the third banknote issue, released between 1973 and 1975, a feature was added to assist vision-impaired and blind people in identifying the denomination of a note. A tactile set of dots was used, with three on the five pound note, two on the 10 pound note, one on the 50 pound note, none on the 100 pound note, and a large bar the length of three dots on the 500 pound note.
