Catalog
10 Latu
| Issuer | Latvijas Valsts Kase (Latvian State Treasury) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1937-1940 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette at left shows a group of fishermen hauling nets on an icy shore, rendered in fine intaglio engraving with a large ornate guilloche medallion to their left bearing the treasury guarantee text. The denomination DESMIT LATU appears in large bold letterpress at centre, with serial numbers and the title inscription LATVIJAS VALSTS KASES ZĪME running along the upper margin. Two facsimile signatures of the Finance Minister and the Director of the State Treasury appear below the central vignette, with the date and place of issue RĪGA, 1938.g. at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 10 DESMIT LATU PAR ZĪMJU VILTOŠANU, VILTOTO ZĪMJU UZGLABĀŠANU UN IZPLATĪŠANU VAINĪGIE SODĀMI PĒC ATTIECĪGIEM SODU LIKUMIEM K. KRAUZE (Translation: 10 / Ten Lats / The perpetrators of counterfeiting, storing and distributing counterfeit marks shall be punished in accordance with the relevant penal laws.) |
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| Comments |
Designed and engraved entirely in-house by Kārlis Krauze at the Riga state press, this note was produced without contracting any of the major Western security printers — an uncommon arrangement for interwar Europe, where most smaller nations relied on Bradbury Wilkinson, De La Rue, or similar firms. The Valsts papīru spiestuve had been building genuine intaglio capability since the early 1920s, and the 10 Latu series was among the more technically demanding work it produced.
The signature progression tells the political story. Valdmanis replaced Ekis as Finance Minister mid-run in 1939, and Kaminskis appears only on 1940 issues — printed under Soviet occupation after the June annexation, though still bearing the Latvian State Treasury's name. Notes from that final 1940 tranche circulated only briefly before the lats was abolished in favor of the Soviet ruble in November 1940.