50 Marka

Estonia declared independence in November 1918 and spent the next two years fighting simultaneous wars against Bolshevik Russia and Baltic German forces. This note was issued before either conflict had fully concluded — the Peace of Tartu with Soviet Russia was signed in February 1920, and the series was produced domestically precisely because foreign printing contracts were neither practical nor politically straightforward for a state still asserting its right to exist.

Domestic production by a newly independent government with limited industrial infrastructure left these notes susceptible to uneven ink distribution and paper inconsistencies. The Estonian marka itself was short-lived; hyperinflationary pressure forced a redenomination to the kroon in 1928.