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20 Coroane Bukovina
| Issuer | Romania (Bukovina overprint on Austro-Hungarian Bank note) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
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| Reference(s) | P#R5 |
| Obverse description | The obverse is a Romanian overprint ('TIMBRU SPECIAL' / 'ROMANIA') applied to the original Austro-Hungarian Bank 20 Kronen note dated 2 January 1913. The left half bears a vignette of a young woman in three-quarter profile set within an ornate guilloche frame, with large numeral '20' on either side. The right half carries the main German-language text block with the Austro-Hungarian double-headed eagle and facsimile signatures of the Gouverneur and Generalsekretär. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse presents the Hungarian-language face of the underlying Austro-Hungarian Bank 20 Korona note of 1913. At left, a large ornate shield bearing the Hungarian coat of arms sits within an elaborate guilloche border, accompanied by the vertically arranged inscription 'OSZTRÁK MAGYAR BANK'. At right, a second vignette of the same young woman appears within a guilloche medallion, flanked by large '20' numerals in the upper corners, with facsimile signatures of the Kormányzó, Főtanácsos and Vezértitkár below the central text block. |
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| Comments |
When Romanian forces occupied Bukovina following the collapse of Austria-Hungary, the administration needed a rapid currency solution before proper Romanian notes could be distributed. The answer was crude but practical: existing Austro-Hungarian 20 Kronen notes were overstamped with a bilingual "ROMANIA / BUCOVINA" overprint to differentiate them from notes still circulating on the other side of the new frontier. The overprint carried legal authority; the underlying note was essentially enemy paper.
The Pick reference P#R5 places this firmly in the Romanian regional emergency issues. The 1919 date on the overprint contrasts with the underlying Austro-Hungarian note's original printing date — the two layers of authority visible on a single piece of paper are the whole story here.