Saudi Arabia Reference Page | Serial Number Prefixes
The bank notes of Saudi Arabia use two types of prefixes, one type is used only for the first issue of Pilgrim Receipts and another type is used for the subsequent Pilgrim Receipts and for all Currency issues.
The first Pilgrim Receipts issued by SAMA (No.1) use a single character prefix, using the Arabic alphabet in its numeric sequence. The range is from ا to هـ.
All other notes issued by Saudi Arabia have a numeric prefix, starting with ١ and continuing in sequence. Some notes have a prefix with leading zeroes (e.g. ٠٠١) so that there are always three numerals. However, the use of this convention is not widespread in the issues and it is not understood why some issues adopt this convention and others do not. The 1-riyal note (No.21d) of the Fourth Currency Issue now has four digits in the serial number prefix.