Coins, stamps and banknotes considered as texts to study of the creation and evolution of the symbols as well the patterns of the national identity. Despite the widespread as well daily usage of these cultural instruments, there are few researches devoted to their role in reproduction of the political and cultural signs including the national identity. The present study aims to represent the elements of national identity in the Persian banknotes in first Pahlavi and Islamic Republic eras by using content analysis and Peirce semiotics. Our findings show that in the second Pahlavi era, national identity of Iran represented by Īrānshahri patriarchy and modernism, but in the Islamic Republic era, national identity represented by the religious symbolism in its non-historical form. Further, the results also shows that in both of these historical eras, there was an identity conflict going on, so that political regimes, in every period, tried to eliminate and banish some of the national elements

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