Catalog
3 Markkaa
| Issuer | Bank of Finland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1860 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Light grey-green note on a light yellow underprint, printed in black letterpress. An embossed Czarist eagle occupies the top centre field, with the Swedish denomination inscription TRE MARK placed immediately beneath it; the legend FINLANDS BANK is reversed out in white across the centre of the note. Bilingual text runs in parallel columns — Swedish on the right and Finnish on the left — with Russian text below, while the Finnish word päälle is hyphenated and breaks across two lines. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Tätä seteliä vastaan maksaa Suomenmaan Pankki anomuksen pääl-le KOLME markkaa hopeassa (Translation: In exchange of this banknote the Bank of Finland will pay on demand the sum of Three Marks in silver.) |
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| Comments |
Finland in 1860 was still a Grand Duchy under Russian imperial rule, and the Bank of Finland operated under close supervision from St. Petersburg. This 3 Markkaa denomination is part of the first markka series — the markka itself had only just been established by imperial decree in 1860 as a currency unit distinct from the Russian ruble, at a fixed rate of four markkaa to one ruble. The choice to issue a 3 Markkaa note, an odd denomination by later Finnish standards, reflects transitional thinking about what face values were needed to bridge the old ruble-based mental arithmetic of daily commerce.
The series is rare in any condition; survival rates from this inaugural issue are extremely low, as relatively few were printed and the notes predated any systematic archival retention policy at the Bank of Finland.