Catalog
500 Lei
| Issuer | Banca Națională a României |
|---|---|
| Year | 1924 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCA NATIONALA A ROMANIEI CINCI SUTE LEI GUVERNATOR DIRECTOR CASIER CENTRAL 19-VI-12-24 PEINT PAR CLEMENT SERVEAU GRAVÉ PAR RITA |
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| Reverse lettering | BANCA NATIONALA A ROMANIEI 500 500 FALSIFICATORII ACESTOR BILETE SI ACEIA CARI VOR FI INTREBUINTAT BILETE FALSE, SAU LE VOR FI INTRODUS IN TARA, SE VOR PEDEPSI CU INCHISOARE DE LA 5 PANA LA 10 ANI, CU INTERDICTIUNE SI AMENDA, CONF ART 117 C. P. CLEMENT SERVEAU FC. EUGÉNE GASPÉ SC. |
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| Comments |
Romania's postwar inflation crisis of the early 1920s pushed the National Bank toward Paris for printing capacity it could not supply domestically. This 500 Lei was produced at the Banque de France's own print works — an arrangement that carried real institutional prestige, since the BdF did not take commercial printing contracts lightly.
Clément Serveau was a noted French illustrator and poster artist, an unusual choice for banknote design work. The obverse intaglio was engraved by Marguerite Dreyfus, known professionally as Rita — one of the very few women working at that level in European security printing at the time.