The Libyan Currency Commission was established as the monetary authority to guide independent Libya to financial stability. The authority had a short life of four years and produced two series of banknotes. While the notes are relatively simple to describe, the intriguing aspect to these notes is that they are catalogued in the wrong order of issue in the Standard Catalogue of World Paper Money. The reasons for this, as will be shown, are understandable, but it is surprising that this mistake has not previously been noted.
 From the early sixteenth century, Libya was part of the Ottoman Empire, but from 1711 to 1835 the area maintained some autonomy under the rule of the Karamanli dynasty. When a dispute arose in 1835 over succession within the dynasty, the Ottomans intervened and re-established direct rule from Istanbul. This situation lasted until the beginning of the twentieth century. During the Italo-Turkish war of 1911–12 Italy occupied Libya and, by the Treaty of Ouchy signed in 1912, Turkey ceded Libya to Italy.

The Italians commenced a program of colonization that continued under various Italian governments. Benito Mussolini’s government was the most active in this area and by the outbreak of World War II some 150,000 settlers had arrived from Italy. At the conclusion of the Second World War, Great Britain and France were in control of Libya. Great Britain was responsible for the provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica in northern Libya, while France was responsible for the province of the Fezzan in the south. Great Britain took responsibility for the two northern provinces because their army had occupied the area after driving out the Axis forces in the winter of 1942-43, while France had liberated and occupied the Fezzan following a march by the Free French from Lake Chad during the War.  After World War II, debate over Libya’s future occupied the international community for some years and ultimately it was decided that the UN should guide Libya to nationhood. On 21 November 1949 the United Nations resolved that Libya should become an independent nation before 1 January 1952. A commissioner appointed by the United Nations then worked with Britain and France to establish self-rule for Libya. On 24 December 1951 the United Kingdom of Libya, under the sovereignty of King Idris I, became the first country to be established as an independent state through efforts of the United Nations.