BANKNOTES OF CYPRUS
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Date	Pick#	Denomination	Observations	Obverse	Reverse
1998	60	1 Pound
Obverse Design: Cypriot girl dressed in traditional costume. Reverse Design: The village of Kato Drys. Composition consisting of handicraft items, pottery and laces.
2001	60	1 Pound
Obverse Design: Cypriot girl dressed in traditional costume. Reverse Design: The village of Kato Drys. Composition consisting of handicraft items, pottery and laces.
2003	61b	5 Pounds
Obverse Design: Limestone head of a young man. The limestone head dates from the 5th century B.C. and was found in the area of Potamia village. Reverse Design: Peristerona church and Turkish mosque at the background.
1998	62	10 Pounds
Obverse Design: Marble head of Artemis (in antiquity the goddess of hunting). The marble head was found in Paphos and dates from the Roman period. Reverse Design: A composition depicting birds (Cyprus Warbler - Sylvia melanotharax), a Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas), a butterfly (Paphos blue - Glaucopsyche paphos), the Cyprus Mouflon (Ovis gmelini ophion) and two endeminc plants ( a tulip-tulipa cypria and a cyclamen - Cyclamen cyprium).
2005	62e	10 Pounds
Obverse Design: Marble head of Artemis (in antiquity the goddess of hunting). The marble head was found in Paphos and dates from the Roman period. Reverse Design: A composition depicting birds (Cyprus Warbler - Sylvia melanotharax), a Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas), a butterfly (Paphos blue - Glaucopsyche paphos), the Cyprus Mouflon (Ovis gmelini ophion) and two endeminc plants ( a tulip-tulipa cypria and a cyclamen - Cyclamen cyprium).
2004	63c	20 Pounds
Obverse Design: Goddess Aphrodite (upper part of a sculpture found in Soloi-1st century B.C.). Reverse Design: The Kyrenia boat (4th century B.C.). The birthplace of Aphrodite (Petra tou Romiou).

The history of the Cypriot Pound
The Cypriot Pound also called the lira unofficially is the currency used on the British portion of Cyprus. In the Turkish portion of Cyprus the Turkish Lira is used. The Cypriot pound in commonly expressed as £, Cy£ or C£ and the ISO 4217 code is CYP.

The Cyprus pound, first introduced in 1879 was equal to one British pound sterling up until 1960.  The Cypriot pound was originally divided into 20 shillings like the British pound, but unlike the British shilling which was divided into twelve pence, the Cypriot shilling was divided into 9 piastres or kurus.  This division established a link to the former currency of Cyprus the Turkish Lira divisible by 100 kurus.

The value of the Cyprus pound in 1879 in short:
GBP1 = CY£1
Cy£1 = 20 shillings = 180 piastres
1 shilling = 9 piasters
1 Turkish Lira = 100 kurus = Cy£-/11/1 (11 Cyprus shillings and 1 piastre)

In 1955 Cyprus chose to decimalize its' currency for easier calculations, as well as the link to the Turkish Lira was no longer in effect as the value of the Turkish Lira had declined. Cyprus chose to divide the pound into 1000 mils. The pound's sub-unit was again changed, since 1983 the pound has been divided into 100 cents. Coins valued in mils are no longer legal tender.

Coins in current use come in the denominations of 1,2,5,10,20 and 50 cents. Notes in current use which are pictured above come in denominations of Cy£1, Cy£5, Cy£10 and Cy£20.  Banknotes have both Turkish and Greek on the front and English on the back.  All notes are currently issued by the Central Bank of Cyprus.

Cyprus plans to replace its' currency with the euro at the beginning of 2008.  The Cypriot pound is currently pegged to the euro at Cy£0.585274 +/- 15%.

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Page created:     20 June 2006
Last Update:      20 June 2006

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