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5000 Lei
| Issuer | Banca Națională a României |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944-1945 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5000 Lei |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | At left, a circular medallion vignette carries the conjoined profile busts of Emperor Trajan and the Dacian king Decebalus, rendered in intaglio on a blue guilloche ground. The royal arms of Romania, surmounted by a crown and supported by two rampant lions, appear at centre, set against a pale multicolour underprint. The denomination "CINCI MII LEI" is inscribed in bold letterpress across the upper centre, with the issuer title "BANCA NATIONALA A ROMANIEI" in a cartouche at the top, and the date, Governor's and Central Cashier's facsimile signatures printed in the lower portion. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The central vignette presents an engraved allegorical scene of Romanian industry and agriculture: a ploughman guiding a team of oxen across a foreground strewn with timber and tools, with an industrial cityscape — including an oil derrick and factory buildings — rising behind him beneath radiating sunrays. A circular BNR monogram medallion appears at lower centre, flanked by the decorative borders carrying a traditional Romanian folk-art geometric pattern. The denomination "5000" is set in large numerals at the top centre, below the country name "ROMANIA" in a cartouche. |
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| Comments |
Romania's wartime finances were under severe strain by 1944, and the 5000 Lei denomination reflects that pressure directly. The note was issued across two calendar years as the country lurched through one of the more violent political pivots of the war — the August 1944 armistice with the Allies and the subsequent Soviet occupation fundamentally changed who controlled the national bank and how it operated.
Hyperinflationary pressure made high-denomination notes a practical necessity rather than a prestige issue. The 1947 monetary reform ultimately rendered the entire Lei series worthless, exchanged at punishing rates that wiped out most private savings.