Seventy-five Piastres

I am sorting and cleaning before we move again, and I found these, a souvenir from a trip my father-in-law made to Egypt a while back. The money looks much older than the trip, faded and rather romantic.

I have something even neater than these from Egypt. It's a postcard on soft, cottony paper; pale blue, advertising in English a perfumier in Cairo called Samy and Son. I have no idea if Samy's descendants are still selling perfumes--I found the card as a bookmark in an original 1918 edition of Sax Rohmer's Tales of Secret Egypt, though it was probably placed there at a much later date than the book was issued. I'd like to think Samy is still in business in some form, putting sandalwood and myrrh into delicate glass bottles.