20 Lei

Romania's first domestically-authorized paper money series was commissioned almost immediately after the country declared independence from Ottoman suzerainty in 1877 — the timing was deliberate, a fiscal assertion of sovereignty made tangible through printed currency. The Imprimerie Nationale in Paris handled the production, with engraving by Paul Dujardin and design work credited to Bramtot and Duval, a combination typical of high-grade French state printing of the period.

Pick 3 is among the earliest issues of the Banca Națională, which itself had only been founded that same year by an act of the Romanian parliament. The watermark security was modest by contemporary European banking standards, and the notes suffered from relatively rapid deterioration in circulation — fine or better survivors are genuinely uncommon.