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1 000 000 Lei
| Issuer | Banca Națională a României |
|---|---|
| Year | 1947 |
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| Designer(s) | Șerban Zainea |
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| Obverse description | At centre, an oval-framed classical portrait bust — traditionally identified as a Roman or Dacian historical figure — is flanked on either side by the numeral denomination "1.000.000"; the issuing authority "BANCA NATIONALA A ROMANIEI" runs along the upper border, with "GUVERNATOR" and "CASIER CENTRAL" positioned above two manuscript signatures below the vignette. The bold legend "UN MILION LEI" spans the lower portion of the face, the whole composition enclosed within a fine guilloche border frame. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | At left, two male peasant figures in traditional Romanian folk costume stand holding agricultural implements; at right, two women and a child in regional attire form a complementary group. The Romanian state coat of arms, encircled by a laurel wreath and surmounted by a royal crown, occupies the central axis. The country name "ROMANIA" appears at the upper border and the denomination "1.000.000" is set within a panel at the lower centre, the entire composition enclosed by an intricate guilloche border. |
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| Comments |
Romania's postwar hyperinflation was among the worst in European history, and this note belongs to the period of its peak. By 1947, the leu had collapsed so severely that denominations in the millions had become routine transactional currency rather than emergency instruments. The Groza government's failure to stabilize prices after 1945 drove successive redenomination proposals, and this issue — one of the highest face values in Romanian interwar and postwar paper money — was already near-worthless in purchasing terms within months of its appearance.
The monetary reform of August 1947 extinguished the old leu entirely, replacing it at a punitive conversion rate that wiped out most private savings. Notes of this denomination were among the last casualties.