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5 Markkaa Kullassa / Mark i Guld / Marok' Zolotom' (Gold Mark)

Issuer Suomen Pankki / Finlands Bank / Finlandskiy Bank'
Year 1909
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Reference(s) P#19B
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Reverse description Brown and blue intaglio print with radiating guilloche lines emanating from the central vignette. At centre, an oval landscape scene shows a boat on a calm lake with trees silhouetted against a luminous sky. Directly below the oval, the Finnish coat of arms — a crowned lion with sword — is set within a wreath. Denomination numerals '5' appear at upper left and upper right within the guilloche border. Legislative text runs vertically along both side margins in Finnish, Swedish and Russian.
Reverse lettering SUOMEN PANKKI • FINLANDS BANK
ФИНЛЯНДСКІЙ БАНКЪ • ПЯТЬ МАРОКЪ ЗОЛОТОМЪ
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Comments

Finland operated under the Russian Imperial monetary system but maintained its own central bank and currency — the markka — a deliberate arrangement that survived from 1811 through the entire Tsarist period. This note's trilingual title (Finnish, Swedish, Russian) was not decorative bilingualism but a legal requirement reflecting Finland's status as an autonomous Grand Duchy under the Tsar, where Russian carried official weight alongside the two domestic languages.

The "kullassa" / "i guld" / "zolotom" suffix — meaning "in gold" — was a direct response to chronic distrust of paper money following the turbulent monetary conditions of the 1860s–1880s. Declaring gold backing on the face of a small-denomination note was a political statement as much as a banking one.

Pick 19B distinguishes a specific signature combination within the 1909 series.

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