in Mandatory Palestine from 1918 to 1927, when the Palestine pound was introduced, equal in value to the pound sterling. The National Bank of Egypt issued banknotes for the first time on 3 April 1899. The Central Bank of Egypt and the National Bank of Egypt were unified into the Central Bank of Egypt in 1961. Symbols and nomenclature Notation and symbols The Egyptian pound has no formal or single widely adopted currency sign. Historically, Egyptian banknotes and postage stamps used the letters 'LE' in a script typeface () as a sign for the currency in the Latin alphabet. The style using the pound sign instead of a standard glyph has been used to varying degrees and may still be encountered, but the abbreviation "LE" (standing for in French) is the most commonly used to-day. The piastre almost always uses the abbreviation "PT" (standing for in French, meaning tariffed piastre in English). When issued as a circulation coin the millieme was abbreviated to "m", "mill" or "mills". Used for historical values or in vernacular speech Several unofficial popular names are used to refer to different denominations of Egyptian currency. These include (from the word nickel) nekla () for 2 milliemes, ta'rifa () for 5 milliemes, () (i.e. a shilling) for 5 piastres, bariza () for 10 piastres, and reyal (ريال) ("real") for 20 piastres. Since the piastre and millieme are no longer legal tender, the smallest denomination currently minted being the 25 PT. coin (functioning as one-quarter of LE 1), these terms have mostly fallen into disuse and survive as curios. A few have survived to refer to pound notes: bariza now refers to the LE 10 note and reyal can be used in reference to the LE 20 note. Informal Different sums of the Egyptian pound have nicknames in vernacular speech, for example: LE 1 bolbol (بلبل) meaning nightingale or gondi (جوندي) meaning soldier, LE 1,000 bako () "pack"; LE 1,000,000 arnab () "rabbit"; LE 1,000,000,000 feel () "elephant". Coins Between 1837 and 1900, copper 1 and 5 para*, silver 10 and 20 para, 1, 5, 10 and 20 piastre (PT), gold 5 PT, 10 PT. and 20 PT and LE 1 coins were introduced, with gold 50 PT coins issued in 1839. Copper 10 para coins were introduced in 1853, although the silver coin continued to be issued. Copper 10 para coins were again introduced in 1862, followed