Libya P-85 1 Dinar 2019 UNC—8th Anniv. Anti-Gadaffi Revolution Commemorative

Libya P-85 1 Dinar 2019, Uncirculated.

• Variety: Only one variety
• Color: Blue
• Front:
  • Central Bank of Libya building, Tripoli
  • Arabic inscriptions: Central Bank of Libya; These banknotes are legal tender for any amount; One Dinar; Issued by Law by the Central Bank of Libya
• Back:
  • Brega Refinery
  • Arch of Marcus Aurelius, Tripoli
  • Latin inscriptions: Central Bank of Libya; One Dinar; 1
• Watermark: Clear window of Omar Mukhtar
• Signatures: Al-Seddiq Omar al-Kabir (ASOK), Governor
• Issuing Bank: Central Bank of Libya (مصرف ليبيا المركزي)
• Currency: Libyan Dinar (LYD), 1971–date
• Denomination: 1 Dinar
• Composition: Polymer (SAFEGUARD™)
• Size: 130 × 65 mm
• Shape: Rectangular
• Printer: De La Rue (Thomas De La Rue & Co.; TDLR), London, United Kingdom
• Country: Libya — Italian Colony (1911–1951); Kingdom of Libya (1951–1969); Libyan Arab Republic (1969–1977); Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011); State of Libya (2011–present)

The Central Bank of Libya

Anchor of a Nation in Transition

The Central Bank of Libya building in Tripoli anchors the obverse of this commemorative note. Founded in 1956, the Central Bank has served as the financial backbone of Libya through monarchy, revolution, and the turbulent post-2011 transition. Its prominent placement on this note — issued to mark the 8th anniversary of the February 17th Revolution — underscores its role as a symbol of institutional continuity amid political upheaval.

The bank's headquarters in Tripoli has itself become a contested symbol during Libya's ongoing civil conflict, with control of its resources representing economic and political legitimacy for rival factions.

Brega Refinery and the Arch of Marcus Aurelius

Industry and Antiquity

The reverse pairs two defining Libyan landmarks: the Brega oil refinery on the Gulf of Sidra — a cornerstone of Libya's petroleum economy and a flashpoint during the 2011 civil war — and the Arch of Marcus Aurelius, the sole surviving Roman triumphal arch in Tripoli, erected in 163 CE to honor the co-emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.

Together they speak to Libya's dual inheritance: an ancient Mediterranean civilization whose monuments still stand in the heart of its capital, and a modern petrostate whose refineries have shaped its 20th- and 21st-century destiny.

Omar Mukhtar

The Lion of the Desert

The clear polymer window watermark depicts Omar Mukhtar (c. 1858–1931), the Senussi resistance leader who led the Libyan guerrilla campaign against Italian colonial rule for nearly two decades. Captured and hanged by Italian authorities in 1931, Mukhtar became the defining martyr of Libyan national identity — immortalized in film, on currency, and in the national consciousness as the "Lion of the Desert."

Commemorating the Revolution against Dictator Muammar Gadaffi

Issued on 18 February 2019 to mark the 8th anniversary of the February 17th Revolution that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, this polymer note is a rare commemorative issue from a country still navigating its post-revolutionary identity. Printed on De La Rue's SAFEGUARD™ polymer substrate — chosen for durability and security — it represents Libya's aspirations for a stable, modern state even as that stability remained elusive.

For the collector, this note is both a numismatic curiosity and a historical document — a small rectangle of polymer encoding the hopes, struggles, and unresolved tensions of a nation in the midst of reinventing itself.