Iraq P-76 100 Dinars 1991 UNC—Saddam Hussein—Sword—Pink

Issued under the shadow of UN sanctions and cut off from its European printers, this 100-dinar emergency note is one of the most historically loaded pieces of paper money Iraq ever produced — lithographed domestically, watermark-free, and bearing Saddam Hussein's portrait at the height of the Gulf War crisis.

Front

• Colors: predominantly pastel pink with turquoise-green ornamental highlights and lavender-gray detailing on a multicolor underprint
• Black-engraved portrait of Saddam Hussein facing left, in military uniform — the standard portrait used across Iraqi banknotes during his rule
• Lettering (Arabic): البنك المركزي العراقي / ١٤١١ هـ - ١٩٩١ م / مائة دينار / ورقة نقدية صادرة بموجب قانون / البنك المركزي العراقي ("Central Bank of Iraq / 1411 AH – 1991 AD / One Hundred Dinars / Banknote issued under Law / Central Bank of Iraq")

Back

• Colors: same pastel pink and turquoise-green palette as the obverse
• The Hands of Victory — also called the Swords of Qādisiyyah — a triumphal arch in central Baghdad commissioned by Saddam Hussein in 1989: two giant forearms (modeled on Saddam's own) clutching crossed swords, base ringed with the helmets of dead Iranian soldiers
• Lettering: Central Bank of Iraq / 100 / One Hundred Dinars

Other Characteristics

• Varieties: single issue (Gulf War Emergency Issue, no recorded sub-varieties)
• Catalog numbers: P# 76; Numista N#207599
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 174 × 80 mm
• Shape: Rectangular
• Edge: Cut
• Technique: Lithography (without watermark)
• Orientation: Horizontal
• Issuing entity: Central Bank of Iraq (البنك المركزي العراقي)
• Years issued: 1411 AH (1991 AD) — single-year emergency issue
• Currency: Iraqi dinar (1931–date)
• Official language: Arabic; Kurdish (co-official since 2005)

About Iraq

• Origin of name: From the Arabic al-ʿIrāq (العراق), of disputed etymology — possibly from the Sumerian city of Uruk (one of the world's earliest cities), or from the Middle Persian erāq meaning "lowlands"
• Capital: Baghdad (city pop. ~7.5 million; metro ~9 million)
  • Origin of name: From Middle Persian bag-dād meaning "given by God"; founded as the Abbasid capital in 762 AD by Caliph al-Mansur
• Population: ~46 million (UN 2024) — comparable to Spain or Argentina
• Area: 438,317 km² (169,235 mi²) — comparable to California or Sweden
• GDP per capita (PPP): ~$10,800 (IMF 2024)
• Main exports: Crude oil (~90% of revenue), refined petroleum, gold, dates, fertilizers
• Borders: Iran (east), Turkey (north), Syria (northwest), Jordan (west), Saudi Arabia (south), Kuwait (southeast); narrow coastline on the Persian Gulf
• Official/spoken language: Arabic, Kurdish
• Ethnicities: Arabs (~75%), Kurds (~17%), with Turkmen, Assyrians, Yazidis, and others
• Memberships: United Nations (1945, founding member); Arab League (1945, founding member); OPEC (1960, founding member); Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
• Sovereignty: British Mandate (1920–1932); independent Kingdom of Iraq (1932–1958); Republic (1958–date); Baʿathist rule (1968–2003); current federal parliamentary republic since the 2003 invasion

Iraq Unfiltered

• Iraq sits on roughly 9% of the world's proven oil reserves — about 145 billion barrels
• The land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is Mesopotamia — birthplace of cuneiform writing (~3200 BC), the wheel, the 60-minute hour, and the first cities
• The Iraqi dinar lost ~99% of its value during the 1990s sanctions decade — a 25-dinar note that bought a meal in 1989 was nearly worthless by 1995
• This 100-dinar note was issued under UN sanctions following Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait — printed locally on lower-grade paper without watermarks because Iraq was cut off from its usual European banknote suppliers
• Saddam Hussein's portrait appeared on every Iraqi banknote from 1986 until his fall in 2003; the post-2003 dinar replaced him with images of Iraqi heritage sites and historic figures
• Iraq has the world's oldest continuously inhabited city in some accounts — Erbil, settled for at least 6,000 years

Banknote of an Embargo

The 100-dinar Emergency Issue is a relic of a specific moment: Iraq under UN Security Council Resolution 661, the most comprehensive trade embargo ever imposed on a single state. Before 1990, Iraqi banknotes were printed in Switzerland and the United Kingdom on watermarked, security-grade paper. After August 2, 1990, those contracts were cancelled overnight. The Central Bank of Iraq turned to a domestic Lithography press, dropped the watermark, and began stamping out increasingly rapid issues to keep up with the hyperinflation that was already underway. This note is part of that improvised currency — a piece of paper that physically embodies the moment when Iraq was severed from the global financial system.

Hands of Victory

The reverse depicts the Hands of Victory — two enormous forearms, cast from molds of Saddam Hussein's own arms, holding aloft crossed swords. The arch was unveiled in 1989 at the parade ground in central Baghdad to mark Iraq's claimed victory in the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988). The swords themselves were cast from melted-down weapons captured from Iranian soldiers. At the base of each arm, ~5,000 helmets of Iranian dead were arranged in a netting pattern. After 2003 the monument was scheduled for demolition, but international protest and historical-preservation arguments saved it; today it stands restored, the helmets removed, in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Saddam GWEI Predominantly pastel pink with turquoise-green ornamental highlights, lavender-gray detailing, and a black-engraved portrait of Saddam Hussein.