Iraqi Trial Notes at Auction
May 26, 2026
A full set of 1990 trial Central Bank of Iraq bank notes bearing a portrait of Saddam Hussein will be offered at a Noonans auction on May 27. Never issued due to the First Gulf War, the three trial notes are expected to fetch a total of £17,000 (US$22,860).
British printing firm De La Rue prepared this trio of notes for issue in 1990 or 1991. However, following Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, De La Rue refused to print bank notes for Iraq. These three Specimen notes featuring the Iraqi revolutionary were in the late stages of the design process when the order was put on hold by the war.
From The Reading Room