Description and research notes
Original 1910 commercial draft issued by Riches & Mawas, a prominent British–Levantine trading firm operating across Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta. The draft is printed on cream-toned security paper with a vertical deep-blue engraved ornamental panel at right. This panel features an elaborate baroque frame surrounding the intertwined R & M monogram, with the company’s three branch cities CAIRE, ALEXANDRIE, TANTA printed around the oval. The engraving style, scrollwork density, and typographic balance match the known output of B. Arnaud (Lyon–Paris–Le Caire), whose imprint appears at the lower edge.
The document is completed in multiple inks. The upper line shows the draft number 6837 and the due date 'Echéance le 1er Octobre 1910' written in elegant black fountain-pen script. The payee, Monsieur Hassan Aly de Fiky, is entered in large cursive handwriting across the midsection. Arabic text fills the central payment block, recording the amount, acceptance wording, and commercial terms specified by the drawer. Blue wave-patterned security bands span the width of the page, framing the amount and reducing opportunities for alteration.
Near the lower portion, a large circular acceptance seal in red-violet ink is struck cleanly, with the date '18—' and manuscript numerals visible inside the ring. Additional Arabic manuscript notations at left and right extend into the security bands, indicating confirmation of goods receipt and agreement to pay. Faint blue pencil figures, probably internal ledger references, appear beneath the bands. The printed 'F°' at bottom left is followed by a handwritten control number in grey-blue ink.
Paper shows natural vertical folding from office handling, as well as small corner wrinkles and light toning consistent with early 20th-century commercial storage. All engraved elements remain sharp, with no trimming, reductions, punch cancellations or damage. The reverse retains the faint ink shadowing of the front text but no modern additions.
High-denomination drafts from Riches & Mawas (such as this 1,600-piastre example) are significantly scarcer than the firm’s smaller-value instruments, as most were redeemed, archived temporarily and destroyed during financial consolidation. Complete examples with intact engraved borders, full manuscript entries and uncut margins are seldom encountered and represent a substantial surviving record of Egypt’s pre–World War I mercantile and intercity credit networks.