50 Litu

Lithuania's 1928 series, of which this is a part, was issued during the country's period of monetary stability anchored by the litas — a currency introduced in 1922 to replace the hopelessly inflated ostmark and later the talonas. Bradbury Wilkinson, the London security printer responsible for this note, was at the time producing banknotes for a wide range of newly independent states, and the quality of their intaglio work gave these Lithuanian issues a solidity that the young republic's own printing capacity could not yet match.

The 50 Litu denomination is the scarcest of the 1928 series in genuinely circulated condition. High face value meant limited daily use, but the notes that did circulate absorbed wear quickly given Lithuania's predominantly rural, cash-based economy of the period.