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5 000 000 Lei
| Issuer | Banca Națională a României |
|---|---|
| Year | 1947 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 205 × 105 mm |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 5.000.000 BANCA NATIONALA A ROMANIEI 5.000.000 CINCI MILIOANE LEI GUVERNATOR CASIER CENTRAL 5.000.000 25 IUNIE 1947 FALSIFICATORII ACESTOR BILETE, ACEI CARI VOR FI INTREBUINTAT BILETE FALSE, COMPLICII LOR PRECUM SI ACEI CARI VOR FI INCERCAT A COMITE ASEMENEA FAPTE, VOR FI PEDEPSITI CONFORM LEGILOR PENALE N. GRIGORESCU E. GASPÉ SC. |
| Reverse description | Two female peasant figures in traditional Romanian folk dress are positioned at the left and right of the vignette, framing a large central oval cartouche bearing the numeral 5.000.000 in bold intaglio print. The entire composition is enclosed within an ornate engraved border with guilloche corner medallions, rendered in a warm brown tone. The designer and engraver credits N. GRIGORESCU and E. GASPÉ SC. appear at the lower margin, with the denomination in words Cinci Milioane Lei along the left edge in italic script. |
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| Comments |
Romania's postwar hyperinflation reached grotesque proportions by 1947, and this denomination — five million lei — reflects just how far the currency had collapsed. The National Bank had been issuing ever-larger denominations in rapid succession since the war's end, each one obsolete almost before it cleared the presses. This note was among the last of that inflating series; the monetary reform of August 1947 replaced the entire lei system at a rate of 20,000 old lei to one new leu, rendering notes of this face value worth a fraction of a new coin.
Gaspérini was a French engraver working for the Romanian state printing house — his credit appears on several notes of this period. The design draws on Grigorescu's paintings, an unusually high-culture choice for currency already being outpaced by inflation.