Once upon a time, our very own Egyptian pound was the boss. Yes, folks, that’s no joke. A research conducted by US economist Nathan Lewis in 2011 showed that Egypt remained the world’s largest country with gold reserves from 1926 to the early 1950’s. Those were the days my friends! 

The one pound bill changed many times throughout the years, so let’s track the transformation journey of our dear Egyptian pound. And to spice things up, we will start the story from the end to the glorious beginning.

Below are the 8 transformations of the Egyptian pound bill:

2006 – Present Time

We all know this one very well! In 2006, the Egyptian government converted the one pound note to a pound coin. A few years later, they discovered that sob7an allah issuing pound coins is too costly so the pound note was back.

1979 – Present Time 

In 1979 the one pound note was issued in the form popular to us today, with Sultan Qaitbay’s mosque and the temple of Abu Simbel featured on each side.

1969 – 1978 

During the reign of both Gamal Abd El Nasser and Anwar El Saddat, the one pound note also had Sultan Qaitbay’s mosque on one side and the temple of Abu Simbel on the other.

 

1963 – 1967

In 1963, another issue of the one pound note appeared with the Sphinx on one side and Pharaonic ornaments on the other. This time it was issued by the Central Bank of Egypt, not by the National Bank of Egypt as it used to be. This version only lasted for four years.

 

1952 – 1962

Abd El Nasser and his fellows announced their arrival by issuing a new form of the Egyptian one pound note. And just like King Fouad, they placed the temple of Isis on one side, and the Sphinx joined the party once again.

 

1950 -1951 

That’s the pound with the shortest lifespan. King Farouk wanted his memory to last forever, but sadly it only lasted less than two years!

1930 – 1949

The first transformation of the pound’s bill occurred during king Fouad’s reign; he brought experts from all over the world to draw it for him. He specifically asked for the pound to have a bold colour, so he picked blue.

 

1899 – 1929

The luckiest one pound note of them all! For 31 year this bill was the boss. One Egyptian pound was worth 7.4 grams of gold! You read that one right, my friend.

If there is any type of time machine that could take us back to the past century, count me in, folks!