Three plates – sketches for Five Israeli Lirot banknote, with a figure of a laborer:
1. • Original sketch - early sketch for the banknote obverse. Gouache and pasting on heavy paper. First version of the laborer's figure, prior to the realistic drawing according to photos. 27X15 cm, in passe-partout. • Two photos - drafts of the obverse (according to illustration) 14X8 cm, 7.5X13.5 cm.
2. • Preparatory photo for the laborer's figure. 12X14 cm. • Original illustration (gouache on paper) created according to the photo. 13X14 cm. • Photo of an additional illustration created according to the photo. 13X14 cm. • Photo of a pencil-sketch for printing the obverse and photo of the banknote's draft. 8X14 cm. In all the above – the laborer's figure is different from the figure that finally appeared on the banknote.
3. • Two preparatory photos for the laborer's figure (different model). 8X11 cm, 7.5X11 cm. • Photo of an illustration of the laborer's figure. 8X7.5 cm. • Sketch for banknote's obverse. Pencil on semi-transparent paper. 12X18 cm. • Photo of banknote's obverse draft. 14X8 cm. • Final version of printed banknote. 14X8 cm. Final illustration of the laborer's figure is a combination of the two models (the cap and the body of the first model and the face of the second model).
"In the eyes of some of the committee members, the original photograph of the laborer was reminiscent of a British worker, and in the eyes of others – of a Soviet one. The question of the laborer's identity was eventually determined only after the intervention of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who thought it inconceivable that all men would be of Ashkenazi origin. Ben-Gurion…proposed that the laborer's image would be that of a Yemenite with side-locks. Eventually it was decided to perpetuate on the note an image of a typical Sephardic (or in current terminology 'Oriental') worker".
Overall good condition. Foxing marks on the two original illustrations (mainly on the second illustration). Some of the sketches are detached from boards.