20 Perpera

Montenegro's 1914 note issue came directly out of wartime fiscal desperation. When the First World War began, the principality — elevated to a kingdom in 1910 — lacked a proper central bank entirely. The Glavna Državna Blagajna, a state treasury office rather than a banking institution, stepped in to issue emergency paper currency, an arrangement that underscores just how rudimentary the country's monetary infrastructure was.

The 1914 series circulated through the Austro-Hungarian occupation beginning in January 1916, after which these notes lost legal tender status under the occupiers. Many were subsequently demonetized and destroyed, making intact survivors rarer than the Pick listing might suggest.