20 000 Dram

Armenia's 20,000 Dram was the highest denomination in circulation when it was introduced, reflecting the cumulative effect of post-Soviet inflation that had, by the mid-2000s, pushed everyday transactions well into the thousands. The dram itself was only introduced in 1993, replacing Soviet rubles at a rate of 200 to one — a brutal reset that left deep public skepticism toward paper money for years afterward.

Thomas De La Rue's involvement places this squarely in the premium tier of Armenian note production, though the security package — watermark and thread only — is modest relative to De La Rue's capabilities at the time.