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5 Markkaa
| Issuer | Bank of Finland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1886 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Markka (1860-1963) |
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| Obverse description | Black intaglio printing on blue underprint. A Czarist double-headed eagle vignette occupies the upper centre of the note. Bilingual text arranged in two columns below — Swedish on the left and Finnish on the right — states the obligation of the Bank of Finland to redeem the note in gold. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The Finnish arms — the Lion of Finland — occupies the central vignette, encircled by the bilingual bank name inscription. Bilingual text in Swedish and Finnish is arranged in two flanking columns, with Russian-language text appearing along the bottom panel. |
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| Comments |
Finland was under Russian imperial administration in 1886, but the Bank of Finland operated with considerable autonomy — including the right to issue its own currency denominated in markkaa rather than rubles. The markka had been pegged to the gold standard since 1878, giving these notes real monetary credibility at a time when Russian paper currency was not convertible.
The P#A50 designation places this among the earlier catalogued Finnish issues; surviving examples from this run are genuinely uncommon, as late 19th-century Finnish notes circulated hard in a predominantly rural economy with few banking alternatives.