4 Talonas

The talonas was introduced as a transitional parallel currency while Lithuania prepared to relaunch the litas, which had last circulated before Soviet annexation in 1940. Initially the talonas functioned as a coupon system attached to ruble transactions, intended to limit Russian buyers from stripping Lithuanian consumer goods during the supply crisis of 1990–1991. By 1992 it had evolved into a standalone banknote series, though still regarded by most Lithuanians as a stopgap.

The 4 talonas denomination is an oddity — base-4 units are rare in any monetary system and reflect the ad hoc arithmetic of the coupon era rather than any deliberate monetary architecture.