Catalog
5 Litai
| Issuer | Lietuvos Bankas (Bank of Lithuania) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Purple and blue bicolour note with a central vignette of a farmer in the act of sowing, framed by guilloche borders; the denomination letters S and C appear at upper left and right respectively. A black serial number is printed at lower center beneath the main vignette. Inscriptions detail the gold content of one litas and the issuing authority, dated Kaunas, 16 November 1922. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | LIETUVOS BANKO BANKNOTAS PENKI LITAI BANKNOTŲ PADIRBIMAS ISTATYMU BAUDZIAMAS (Translation: Lithuanian Bank Banknote Five Litai Forgery of Banknotes Punished by Law) |
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| Comments |
Lithuania's first independent central bank opened in 1922, and this 5 Litai note belongs to the inaugural series issued by Lietuvos Bankas — a deliberate break from the transitional Ostmark and Auksinas issues that had circulated since the German occupation. The litas itself was introduced that same year at a rate pegged to stabilize a post-war economy still absorbing the consequences of occupation, revolution, and border conflict with Poland over the Vilnius region.
The printer, A. Haase of Prague, was a well-established central European security printer with roots going back to the late eighteenth century. Contracting to a Czechoslovak firm rather than a Western European one was a practical and political choice for a young Baltic state navigating its relationships in the early 1920s.