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15 Kyats
| Issuer | Union of Burma Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1986 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 15 Kyats |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Left panel presents an intaglio vignette of the seated Burmese theatrical puppet figure Min Thar within an elaborately bordered arched niche rendered in dark blue-green, set against a finely executed guilloche ground. The central and right fields carry a bold multicolour lotus and floral arabesque motif in red, green, and teal against a light guilloche underprint, with the English denomination legend to the right of centre. The issuer's name in English appears in red letterpress along the lower centre, and the numeral 15 in intaglio is placed at the lower right corner. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The 15 Kyat note was issued because Ne Win, Burma's military ruler, considered 9 and its multiples to be his lucky numbers — a conviction rooted in personal numerology that directly dictated monetary policy. The series of 15-, 35-, 45-, 75-, and 90-Kyat denominations that appeared in 1986 replaced perfectly functional notes of standard value, causing immediate practical chaos in daily commerce. Within two years, the 1988 demonetization rendered most of these same notes worthless overnight, a decision that helped trigger the pro-democracy uprisings of that year.
The print run of roughly 12 million is modest, which combined with mass hoarding and subsequent panic exchanges makes genuinely circulated examples harder to find than uncirculated ones.