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20 Latu
| Issuer | Latvijas Banka (Bank of Latvia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1925 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 Latu |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio print on yellow and green guilloche underprint. Central vignette presents a portrait of Latvia's first President Jānis Čakste. The face bears the issuing bank's title, denomination in full, and a gold convertibility clause, all enclosed within ornate lathe-work borders. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in green on yellow guilloche underprint, the reverse is dominated by an elaborately engraved central oval vignette containing the Latvian State Coat of Arms — a quartered shield supported by a lion and a griffin, surmounted by three stars — enclosed within dense lathe-work rosette borders. Numeral denominators "20" appear in guilloché cartouches to the left and right, with a penal warning legend arcing below the central vignette. |
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| Comments |
Latvia's 1922 constitution established the Latvijas Banka as a state institution, and the lats — introduced in 1922 to replace the deeply inflated Latvian ruble — was specifically pegged to gold at par with the pre-war British pound. The 1925 20 Latu was printed by Waterlow & Sons at their London works during a period when the young republic was aggressively building monetary credibility after the chaos of German occupation and the independence wars.
Waterlow produced several of the early Latvian series under similar security specifications. The watermark on this issue is the primary — and sole — mechanical security feature, modest by contemporary standards even for the mid-1920s.