Catalog
1 Markka
| Issuer | Bank of Finland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1866 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 1 Mark. 1 Markka. Emot denna sedel be, talar Finlands Bank vid anfordran en summa af EN mark i silfver. Tätä seteliä vastaan maksaa Suomenmaan Pankki anomuksen päälle YHDEN markan hopeassa Banko-Direktör Banko-Kassör ОДНА МАРКА СЕРЕБРОМЪ 1866. (Translation: 1 Markka/Mark [Swedish and Finnish] In exchange of this banknote the Bank of Finland will pay on demand the sum of One Mark in silver. [Swedish and Finnish] Bank Director Bank Treasurer One markka/mark in silver [Russian] 1866.) |
| Reverse description | Black on white. The large numeral 1 is centred within a circular guilloche vignette, surrounded by a decorative border running along all edges. Russian text appears at top and bottom, with Swedish text along the left side and Finnish text along the right side, all in black letterpress. |
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| Comments |
Finland in 1866 was an autonomous Grand Duchy under Russian imperial rule, and the Bank of Finland operated under that constraint. The 1 Markka note of that year was part of a pivotal currency transition: Finland had just established the markka as its independent monetary unit in 1860, deliberately severing the formal peg to the Russian ruble. The 1866 notes arrived as the country was still building confidence in its own banking infrastructure — no trivial task for a population that had relied on ruble-denominated instruments for decades.
P#A33 is among the earlier small-denomination paper issues from this series, and genuine survivors are rarely encountered.