50 Centų

Lithuania's first independent currency series launched in 1922 under severe fiscal constraints — the litas wouldn't arrive until 1922's end, and these centu notes were stopgap instruments for a state barely two years removed from the chaos of competing occupiers and currency regimes. W. Hagelberg was a Berlin commercial lithographer rather than a specialist security printer, a choice that reflected budget realities more than preference. The resulting notes were lithographed rather than engraved, which made them comparatively easier to counterfeit.

The Pick 12 is among the lowest-denomination survivors of this inaugural issue. Small-denomination notes typically absorbed the hardest circulation, and attrition was high.