1 Manat

Robert Kalina is best known for designing the original euro banknote series — a detail worth registering here, because Azerbaijan's 2005 manat series was commissioned from him directly, giving these notes an aesthetic kinship with the euro issues that is more than coincidental. The National Bank clearly wanted a family of notes that read as credible, modern currency to an international eye, and hiring Kalina through OeBS in Vienna was a deliberate signal in that direction.

Azerbaijan redenominated in 2006, replacing the old manat at 5,000:1. This note, though dated 2005, entered circulation as part of that redenomination rollout rather than as a transitional holdover.