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500 Markkaa
| Issuer | Suomen Pankki (Bank of Finland) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1878 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Bilingual note with text in Swedish on the left and Finnish on the right, printed on yellow-green paper with a Greek key guilloche border. The central vignette presents the Finnish coat of arms flanked by two allegorical putti, one holding a torch and the other a cornucopia. The denomination '500' appears in large numerals at the top centre, with tablet inscriptions reading 'FEMHUNDRA MARK' and 'WIISISATAA MARKKAA' in decorative cartouches at upper left and right respectively; serial numbers appear at lower left and right flanking the date '1878', with signature lines for 'DIREKTÖR I BANKEN' and 'TJENSTEMAN I BANKEN' above. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in olive-green and black on a yellow ground, with an elaborate underprint of repeated bee motifs and '500' numerals across the field. A central oval intaglio vignette presents a panoramic Finnish lakeland landscape with pine trees and a distant town. Four corner medallions contain wildlife vignettes: a swan at upper left, an eagle at upper right, a moose at lower left, and a bear at lower right. The denomination panels at left and right read '500 MARK I GULD' and '500 МАРОКЪ ЗОЛОТОМЪ' respectively, and a three-line Russian text legend runs across the lower portion of the note. |
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| Comments |
This 1878 issue predates Finland's formal monetary independence — the Bank of Finland operated under Russian imperial authority throughout this period, with the Finnish markka pegged to gold following the 1865 reform that severed its tie to the Russian ruble. A 500 Markkaa denomination represented serious purchasing power; these were not notes that passed through many hands in daily trade.
Pick A45 is among the rarer nineteenth-century Finnish issues, partly because high-denomination notes of this era were often cancelled and archived rather than circulated to exhaustion. Surviving uncancelled examples warrant close scrutiny of the cancellation points along the margins.