500 Markkaa, Litt. B

Finland's 500 Markkaa series of 1945 came immediately after the country's brutal Continuation War and the armistice terms that imposed heavy reparations on a devastated economy. The Litt. B designation marks a revised letterpress run — the Bank of Finland used literal suffixes to distinguish successive printings within the same design year, a cataloguing habit that reflects how frequently wartime and postwar pressures forced the bank to reprint notes before a full redesign was practical.

Inflation was severe enough that a 500 Markkaa note, once a substantial sum, lost purchasing power rapidly through the late 1940s. The 1945 series was retired well before the 1963 redenomination that replaced 100 old Markkaa with 1 new Markka.