50 Rubļu

Latvia's 1992 banknote series was produced under genuine urgency. The country had restored independence in August 1991 and needed a functioning currency before it could fully exit the Soviet ruble zone — the Latvian ruble (rublis) was introduced as a transitional currency in May 1992, specifically to give the central bank time to prepare the permanent lats series without leaving the economy exposed. Giesecke & Devrient, the Munich printer with deep roots in Eastern European transitional currency work, handled the production.

Kirils Šmeļkovs designed the full rublis series. The permanent lats replaced these notes beginning in 1993, rendering the rublis short-lived by design.