ABSTRACT
During the Pahlavi reign, both stamps and bank notes glorified twenty-five centuries of Persian achievements and contributions to world civilization. The emphasis was on pre-Islamic architecture and art, and on modern industrial complexes, gigantic dams, and means of transportation. A portrait of the monarch was featured prominently on both stamps and notes. During the reign of Reza Shah, modern achievements, such as the Trans-Iranian railway, the seaport of Bandar Pahlavi, and the National Bank building, are shown on the reverse side. In the reign of his son, Muhammad Reza Shah, the number of pictures of industrial plants, irrigation works and civic compounds increased. In order to show graphically the departure from the glorification of pre-Islamic Iran and the pro-Western ideology of the shahs and the transition to the traditional Islamic attitude of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, it is convenient to compare the imperial one-hundred-rial bank notes with the same note issued by the Islamic Republic.
