20 Latu

Latvia's 1922 constitution established the Latvijas Banka as a state institution, and the lats — introduced in 1922 to replace the deeply inflated Latvian ruble — was specifically pegged to gold at par with the pre-war British pound. The 1925 20 Latu was printed by Waterlow & Sons at their London works during a period when the young republic was aggressively building monetary credibility after the chaos of German occupation and the independence wars.

Waterlow produced several of the early Latvian series under similar security specifications. The watermark on this issue is the primary — and sole — mechanical security feature, modest by contemporary standards even for the mid-1920s.