5000 Lei

Romania's inflation in the early 1990s was severe enough that the 5,000 Lei denomination, which would have been an extraordinary sum under Ceaușescu, had become a routine transaction note within a few years of his fall. The National Bank issued this series in rapid succession simply to keep pace with purchasing power collapse — by the mid-1990s, denominations of 50,000 and 100,000 Lei would follow.

P#104 is frequently found with handling wear concentrated along the lower horizontal fold, a consequence of how it was typically stored and tendered during its short active circulation window.