20 Lei

Romania's monetary system was in freefall through the 1990s — inflation peaked above 300% in 1993, and the 20 Lei denomination, worth something meaningful at issue, had become effectively valueless long before the series ended in 2003. The brass-plated steel composition was a direct response to austerity; earlier Romanian issues had used genuine copper-nickel, and the switch to cheaper plated steel tracked the country's post-Ceaușescu economic collapse almost year by year.

The leu was eventually redenominated in 2005 at a ratio of 10,000 old lei to 1 new leu, which tells you everything about what happened to this coin's purchasing power across its twelve-year run.