Catalog
100 lei
| Issuer | Romania |
|---|---|
| Year | 2005 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Educational play-money reproduction of the Romanian 100 Lei note (P# 121), retaining the genuine design elements: an intaglio-style portrait of Ion Luca Caragiale (1852–1912) at right, a vignette of a columbine flower and theatrical comedy/tragedy masks at centre, and the BNR monogram medallion above. The note is overprinted in red with the diagonal legend PENTRU ÎNVĂȚARE ȘI JOC and bears a circular red ALEXANDER brand stamp at upper left, while the lower left inscription FOLOSITI NUMAI IN SCOPURI EDUCATIONALE SI LA JOC further identifies this as a non-negotiable educational piece. The denomination 100 / LEI UNA SUTĂ appears at lower left and in vertical format along the right margin, against a multicolour guilloche underprint in blue, green, and gold. |
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| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely unprinted, presenting a plain white paper surface with no design, lettering, or security elements. |
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| Comments |
Romania's decision to continue printing polymer-format notes in paper for certain denominations in the mid-2000s is easily misread as a backward step — but the 2005 paper 100 lei was issued during the redenomination year, when the old 1,000,000 lei became the new 100 lei at a ratio of 10,000:1. The redenomination, effective 1 July 2005, was the culmination of a decade of post-communist inflation recovery.
Romania had actually pioneered polymer banknotes in 1999, so a paper issue at this denomination sits slightly outside the country's own trajectory. Verify whether this is a transitional printing before the denomination migrated fully to polymer substrate.