Catalog
500 Lei
| Issuer | Banca Națională a României |
|---|---|
| Year | 1936-1940 |
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| Printer | Bradbury Wilkinson and Company, United Kingdom (1856-1990) |
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| Obverse description | At left, a portrait vignette of King Carol II in military uniform is framed within a fine guilloche border, beneath the bank title "BANCA NATIONALA A ROMANIEI" in letterpress across the top. The denomination "CINCI SUTE LEI" is inscribed in large text at centre, with the royal coat of arms positioned above, flanked by the manuscript signatures of the Guvernator and Casier Central. Serial number and date appear in the lower portion of the note, with the numeral "500" repeated at the lower corners. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The central and right portion of the note is occupied by a detailed intaglio vignette of Peleș Castle set against a forested hillside, rendered with fine engraved linework. To the left, a circular vignette contains two Romanian peasant figures in traditional folk costume with agricultural implements. The numeral "500" appears at upper left and the country name "ROMANIA" runs across the top within a decorative border, with a lengthy anti-counterfeiting warning inscription in Romanian along the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
Bradbury Wilkinson held the contract for several Romanian National Bank issues through the interwar period, and the P#43 series ran across an unusually long window — production spanning the years before and during the early phase of Romania's wartime political realignment. By 1940, when King Carol II abdicated under combined German and Soviet pressure, notes from this print run were still circulating. They didn't need to be withdrawn immediately; the regime changed faster than the currency.
Bradbury Wilkinson's intaglio work was consistently among the finest available to smaller European central banks. Romania's choice of a London printer rather than a domestic or French one reflects the financial relationships of the 1930s more than any technical limitation at home.