Catalog
500 Talonas 'Coupon'
| Issuer | Republic of Lithuania |
|---|---|
| Year | 1992 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Brown-violet intaglio print on blue guilloche underprint. A plant vignette occupies the centre, with the denomination numeral 500 positioned above it; the brown Lithuanian Coat of Arms shield appears at right. Inscriptions in Lithuanian run across the note, with counterfeit warning text along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Large squarish diamond with symbol of the republic throughout paper. |
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| Comments |
Lithuania's talonas was introduced in May 1992 as a parallel currency alongside the Soviet ruble, which was still circulating — a transitional device designed to assert monetary control before a fully independent currency could be established. The name itself was borrowed from the Russian word for coupon, a deliberate nod to the ration-coupon system that had preceded it. Critically, the talonas was non-convertible from the outset, which made hoarding pointless and drove circulation even as the public distrusted it.
Spindulys in Kaunas had been printing documents and books since the interwar republic. That a domestic printer handled this series mattered politically, even if the security specifications were modest — a simple watermark being the primary protection against counterfeiting.