Catalog
50 Latu
| Issuer | Latvijas Banka |
|---|---|
| Year | 1934 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central intaglio portrait vignette of Kārlis Ulmanis (1877–1942), Prime Minister and State President of Latvia, rendered with fine line engraving against an elaborate guilloche underprint. The denomination and issuing authority inscriptions are arranged in the surrounding field, with the bank name lettered across the upper portion. The overall design is executed in a restrained, formal style characteristic of De La Rue production of the period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | PAR LATVIJAS BANKAS NAUDAS ZĪMJU VILTOŠANU VAI VILTOTO ZĪMJU UZGLA-BĀŠANU UN IZPLATĪŠANU VAINĪGOS SODĪS SASKAŅĀ AR SODU LIKUMIEM. |
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| Comments |
Latvia's 50 Latu of 1934 was printed by Thomas De La Rue during a politically charged moment — Kārlis Ulmanis had just dissolved parliament and assumed dictatorial powers in May of that year. The note's production in London reflected a deliberate policy of the Latvijas Banka to use high-security foreign printers, insulating currency production from domestic instability.
Pick 20 is scarcer than its lower-denomination counterparts in the series, largely because 50 Latu represented a substantial sum for most Latvians in the mid-1930s. Notes of this value circulated infrequently, yet attrition through the Soviet occupation of 1940 — which invalidated and largely destroyed Latvian currency stocks — was severe.