Catalog
500 Lei
| Issuer | Banca Națională a României |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940-1943 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | ROMANIA FALSIFICATORII ACESTOR BILETE, ACEI CARII VOR FI INTREBUINTAT BILETE FALSE, COMPLICII LOR, PRECUM SI ACEI CARI VOR FI INCERCAT A COMITE ASEMENEA FAPTE VOR FI PEDEPSITI CONFORM LEGILOR PENALE E. GASPE SC (Translation: ROMANIA THE COUNTERFEITERS OF THESE TICKETS, THOSE WHO WILL HAVE USED FALSE TICKETS, THEIR ACCOMPLICES, AS WELL AS THOSE WHO WILL TRY TO COMMIT SUCH DEEDS WILL BE PUNISHED UNDER CRIMINAL LAWS) |
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| Protection description | Horizontal text `BNR` repeating |
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| Comments |
Romania's wartime finances were under severe strain by 1940, and the expanded note issue this series represented was partly a consequence of occupation costs imposed by German forces following the Vienna Awards and Romania's alignment with the Axis. The 500 Lei denomination circulated under three successive governments — Carol II's royal dictatorship, the Legionary State, and Antonescu's military regime — without the note itself being redesigned.
Gaspérini was a French engraver whose work appears on several Romanian issues of the interwar and wartime period, contracted through the established relationship between BNR and Western European printing expertise before that channel closed.