500 Krooni

The 500 Krooni was the highest denomination in the restored Estonian kroon series, reintroduced in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet ruble zone. Estonia was the first former Soviet republic to exit the ruble, pegging its new currency to the Deutsche Mark at a fixed rate of 8:1 — a hard peg maintained with unusual discipline through the currency board arrangement.

De La Rue produced this 1996 issue with optically variable ink, relatively early adoption of that feature for a note of this circulation tier. The kroon series ran until 2011, when Estonia became the first former Soviet state to adopt the euro.