Yemen Reference Page | Serial Number Prefixes

Reference Site for Islamic Banknotes

Serial Number Prefixes for Yemen

The serial number prefixes used in Yemen are quite complex. In the book The Bank Notes of Yemen, Peter Symes, Murray Hanewich and Keith Street identify six different sequences of serial number prefixes, as well as the prefixes used for the replacement notes. The format of serial numbers listed below is a summary of the information found in The Bank Notes of Yemen.

The First Format

This format covers Sequence Nos. 1, 2, 3 & 5 as identified by Symes, Hanewich and Street and the new 1000-rial note introduced in 1998. The fractional serial number prefixe for all denominations commences with ١/ا. The number increments with each cycle until it is ٩٩/ا. The next increment sees the letter change and the number reverts to ١. So the prefixes go from ٤/ا ,٣/ا ,٢/ا ,١/ا, etcetera to ٩٩/ا, whereupon it continues with ٤/ب ,٣/ب ,٢/ب ,١/ب, etcetera.

The Second Format

This format covers Sequence No. 4 as identified by Symes, Hanewich and Street. It is a fractional prefix with two letters over a number. The left-hand letter is the 'denominational' letter (see the chart below). The right-hand letter increments (in the numeric order of the alphabet) each time the cycle is complete. Once the last letter is used for the right-hand letter, the number below the letters is incremented and the right-hand letter commences at the beginning of the alphabet. The 5-rial note (SHS No.19a) increments in the following manner: ١/د​ب ,١/ج​ب ,١/ب​ب ,١/ا​ب, etcetera to ١/غ​ب, then ٢/د​ب ,٢/ج​ب ,٢/ب​ب ,٢/ا​ب, et cetera. Only three notes used this format, they and their denominational letter being:

The Third Format

This format covers Sequence No. 4 as identified by Symes, Hanewich and Street. It is a fractional prefix with two letters over a number, like the second format, but in this format the number increments in each cycle until is reached. Thereupon the left-hand letter increments and the number starts again at one. The right-hand letter is a denominational letter (see the chart below). An example of the incrementing sequence is (for the 10-rial note SHS23b/c):٤/ا​ا ,٣/ا​ا ,٢/ا​ا ,١/ا​ا, etcetera to ٩٩/ا​ا, when it then changes to ٤/ا​ب ,٣/ا​ب ,٢/ا​ب ,١/ا​ب, etcetera. The increments made by the left-hand letter are in the numeric sequence of the alphabet. The letters assigned to each denomination is as follows:

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