This ten is dated 1986, when Habib Bourguiba was Tunisia’s president for life, with less than two years to go before he was removed from power. His portrait fills the front and is repeated in the watermark.

Bourguiba became prime minister in April 1956 and, on 25 July 1957, the republic’s first president; in 1975 he proclaimed himself president for life. On 7 November 1987 he was removed from power by his own prime minister, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and the former president was then kept under house arrest in his native Monastir.

Next to the portrait on the front is an agricultural scene, while the back is devoted to an offshore oil platform. Notes of this type, like the tens of the 1994 and 2005 types, were accepted for exchange by the Central Bank of Tunisia until 31 December 2019.

In a Tunisian collection it is a Bourguiba-era note and a natural companion to the 1994 ten, whose back celebrates the date of his removal, 7 November 1987. UNC condition means the note has never circulated: no folds, no wear, no soiling, even corners — just as it left the press.

If this banknote has caught your interest, the VPcoins catalogue has other issues from the same issuer worth seeing.