Catalog
20 Filira
| Issuer | Gradska blagajna Karlovac (City Treasury of Karlovac) |
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| Year | 1919 |
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| Size | 69 × 45 mm |
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| Obverse description | Green letterpress print on white paper, enclosed within a rectangular border of interlaced knotwork ornament. A central oval frame composed of a beaded rope motif bears the city name KARLOVAC above the large numeral 20, flanked by the denomination inscription FILIRA, while the four corners carry ornamental cartouches each containing the numeral 20 in knotwork. Below the oval, the crowned coat of arms of Karlovac is supported by two allegorical female figures holding sheaves and spears against a background of reeds and water, referencing the four rivers of the city, with the header inscription SLOBI KRALI GRAD running across the top. |
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| Reverse description | Green letterpress print on white paper within a rectangular border of beaded and chain ornament. The upper portion carries redemption text in Croatian followed by the bold central denomination FILIRA 20 FILIRA, beneath which legal text cites the ministerial authorisation, territorial validity, expiry date, and a forgery warning. The lower section bears the place and date of issue, Karlovac, 15 November 1919, the title Gradonačelnik, and a manuscript mayoral signature. |
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Karlovac's City Treasury issued small-denomination scrip in 1919 to address the acute coin shortage that plagued the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in its earliest months. Local municipalities across the former Austro-Hungarian territories were left to plug the gap themselves, producing emergency fractional notes — Notgeld in all but name — while the new state's monetary administration was still being assembled in Belgrade.
The 20 filira denomination places this squarely in the transitional moment before the kuna and heller were fully displaced by the Yugoslav dinar, which was only formally imposed on the region in 1920.