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| Issuer | Latvijas Valsts Kase (Latvian State Treasury) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
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| In circulation to | 1922 |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in blue and brown on plain paper, framed by an intricate geometric folk-art border with numeral "1" repeated in each corner. The central field carries the Latvian-language inscriptions "LATWIJAS WAGSTS KASES SIHME" in bold block lettering, with "WEENS RUBLIS" set within a red-brown panel at centre. A sun-burst vignette appears at top centre, flanked by three stars, and a serial number panel in red is printed below, followed by facsimile signatures of the Finance Minister and State Treasurer and a guarantee text in Latvian. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in black on uncoloured paper and divided into two parallel text panels separated by a central vignette of a wheat sheaf above a shield. The left panel carries the German text "LETTLANDS STAATS-KASSENSCHEIN / EIN RUBEL" beneath the heading, while the right panel bears the Russian-language equivalent "ОБЯЗАТЕЛЬСТВО ГОСУДАРСТВЕННАГО КАЗНАЧЕЙСТВА ЛАТВІИ / ОДИНЪ РУБЛЬ". Both panels include extended legal guarantee and anti-counterfeiting texts in their respective languages, all enclosed within the same elaborate Latvian folk-pattern guilloche border used on the obverse. |
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| Comments |
Latvia's very first government-issued banknote, authorized almost immediately after the declaration of independence in November 1918. The new Treasury had no established printing infrastructure, and the 1 Rublis was produced domestically under difficult conditions — Latvia was still actively fighting on multiple fronts against both German Freikorps and Bolshevik forces when these notes entered circulation.
The rublis was a transitional currency, effectively a Latvianized holdover from the Russian imperial ruble system, and was never intended as a permanent unit. It was replaced by the lats beginning in 1922.