Five Hundred Prutah

FIVE HUNDRED PRUTAH
THE LANDSCAPES SERIES
Silver/999, 5 grams

On December 1, 1954, the Central Bank of the State of Israel, the Bank of Israel, was founded. When responsibility for issuing banknotes passed from Bank Leumi, a private bank, to the Bank of Israel, it was decided to issue a new banknote series which would bear the name of the Central Bank. As soon as the Central Bank was established, preparations for issuance of the new notes began. For this purpose, the Bank contacted the Thomas de la Rue Printing Company in London.
Bank Leumi's Board of Directors Chairman, Eliezer Hoofien, was elected head of this special committee, which chose landscapes of Israel as the central motif for the faces of the new banknotes, and flowers of Israel as a secondary motif. Abstract designs selected for the reverses of the notes served also as a means of prevention against counterfeiting, in addition to the Menorah watermark.
The new banknotes were put into circulation between August and October 1955.

Details taken from "Banknotes and Coins of Israel 1927-2006", published by the Bank of Israel (edited by Yigal Arkin), by courtesy, the Bank of Israel.