1 Manat

Azerbaijan's first post-Soviet currency series was issued in 1992 as the manat replaced the Soviet ruble during a period of acute economic instability, with the country simultaneously managing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the collapse of supply chains that had run through Moscow for decades. The commission to Thomas De La Rue was a deliberate signal — a newly independent state anchoring its monetary credibility to one of the world's oldest and most reputable security printers.

The series was relatively short-lived. Hyperinflation through the mid-1990s made the 1 manat functionally worthless within a few years of issue, and a full redenomination in 2006 retired all first-series notes permanently.