50 ILS #647

Front

The Golden Gate (Sha'ar HaRachamim) on Jerusalem's Old City eastern wall, adjacent to the Temple Mount. This double-arched gate, sealed since medieval times, is one of Jerusalem's eight gates and holds religious significance in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. The gate dates to the Byzantine period, though tradition associates it with the earlier Second Temple period.

Back

Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888–1970), Israeli Nobel Prize-winning writer and one of the central figures of modern Hebrew fiction. Born in Galicia (then Austria-Hungary), he immigrated to Ottoman Palestine in 1908, lived in Germany 1913–1924, then settled permanently in Jerusalem. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966, the first Hebrew writer to be so honored. Behind him is a building from the German Colony in Jerusalem, with date palms representing the landscape of the Land of Israel.

History

This note belongs to the first series of the Israeli Sheqel (also spelled Shekel), introduced on February 24, 1980, replacing the Israeli Pound (Lira) at a rate of 1 Sheqel = 10 Lirot. The series was issued from 1978–1980 during a period of severe hyperinflation in Israel. The currency was denominated in Sheqalim (plural), with denominations from 1 to 10,000 Sheqalim issued by 1984. Due to continued inflation reaching over 400% annually, the Sheqel was itself replaced by the New Sheqel (NIS) in 1985 at a rate of 1 New Sheqel = 1,000 old Sheqalim, making this note worth 0.05 NIS. The series featured Israeli cultural figures and historic Jerusalem sites. This 50 Sheqel note, dated 'Tishrei 5739' (1978 in the Hebrew calendar), was printed by the Government Printer of Israel and bears signatures of Governor Yosef Barkats and Manager A. Shoval.