50 Pennia large lettering

Finland's first native coinage — authorized under Alexander II's 1860 monetary reform — established the markka system and broke Finnish currency free from the Swedish riksdaler and Russian ruble as everyday transactional units. The Helsinki Mint, reopened specifically for this purpose, struck the early issues with noticeably larger reverse lettering, a detail corrected in the KM#2.2 revision that followed. The distinction is subtle enough that mixed populations of the two varieties passed through commerce unnoticed for years.