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20 Markkaa
| Issuer | Bank of Finland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862 |
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| Currency | Markka (1860-1963) |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress on red underprint. At left, an ornate heraldic crest centres on the Imperial Czarist double-headed eagle; denomination in Swedish appears at right. The principal text, rendered in Swedish, occupies the centre field, with the series year 1862 noted below. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 20 MARK I SILFVER Emot denna sedel betalar FINLANDS BANK vid anfordran en summa af TJUGU Mark i silfver (Translation: 20 MARKS IN SILVER In exchange of this banknote the Bank of Finland will pay on demand the sum of Twenty Marks in silver..) |
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| Comments |
Finland's monetary history took a decisive turn in 1860 when the country — still an autonomous Grand Duchy under Russian rule — established the markka as its own unit of account, deliberately separating Finnish currency from the Russian ruble. This note, issued just two years after that reform, belongs to the earliest generation of markka-denominated paper money. The Bank of Finland had been issuing notes since 1812, but the switch to the markka system required entirely new plate designs and a fresh authorization framework under the Finnish Senate.
The 1862 series was printed in small quantities and circulated in a country where paper money remained deeply unfamiliar to most of the population. Survival rates are low, and the series as a whole is genuinely scarce in any condition.