Catalog
0.20 Talonas 'Coupon'
| Issuer | Lithuania |
|---|---|
| Year | 1991 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Gray on gold underprint. The national coat of arms — the Vytis, depicting an armored knight on horseback — is printed at center against a guilloche underprint, with the issuing authority inscription and date arranged around the device. |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
Lithuania's talonas coupons were introduced in May 1991 as a rationing supplement to the Soviet ruble, not a replacement — residents needed both to purchase goods. The system was designed partly to prevent Russians crossing the border to buy up subsidized Lithuanian consumer goods, a genuine and politically charged problem in the months following the independence declaration of March 1990.
Spindulys, a Kaunas printing house with roots in the interwar republic, was the natural choice — the Soviets had kept it running for decades producing state publications. Printing a nationally symbolic currency instrument there carried an obvious point.