Catalog
500 Kuna not issued
| Issuer | Hrvatska Državna Banka (Croatian State Bank) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943 |
| Type | Non-circulating banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a central guilloche rosette vignette at left incorporating the numeral 500, flanked on the right by an intaglio vignette of a medieval stone relief with a crowned figure and attendants. The upper register bears the bank title HRVATSKA DRŽAVNA BANKA in letterpress, with the denomination legend PETSTO KUNA in a framed panel at centre. The date Zagreb 1. Rujna 1943 appears below the central text block, accompanied by two manuscript signatures and a serial number in red at lower left. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in olive-green tones and centres on a full-length intaglio vignette of a woman in traditional Croatian folk costume, set within an elaborate oval guilloche frame. Two further guilloche medallions flank the central vignette, each bearing the numeral 500, surrounded by a dense lathe-work underprint pattern with the words PETSTO KUNA repeated in the background. Corner inscriptions read 500 KUNA at lower left and lower right. |
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| Comments |
Hrvatska Državna Banka commissioned this 500 Kuna from Giesecke & Devrient in Leipzig in 1943, but the notes were never placed into circulation. The reasons remain somewhat murky — wartime supply constraints and the Ustasha regime's increasingly unstable monetary situation both played a role — and the full print run was apparently never released to the issuing authority.
Vladimir Kirin, a Zagreb-born illustrator and graphic artist, provided the design. His involvement with NDH banknote work is among the more uncomfortable chapters of an otherwise distinguished career in Croatian book illustration.