Banknotes of the Romanian leu

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Contents

[edit] Banknotes of the first leu (RON)

[edit] 1917 issue

1917 Series
Image Value Dimensions Main Colour Description Date of
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse printing issue
25 b 45 × 60 green, yellow King Ferdinand Coat of arms 1917
50 b 45 × 60 green, orange King Ferdinand Coat of arms 1917
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a Wikipedia standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] 1920 issue

1920 Series
Image Value Dimensions Main Colour Description Date of
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse printing issue
1 L 78 × 55 blue industrial landscape, value, maid Coat of arms, Capitoline Wolf, Decebal, Trajan 1920 17 July 1920
2 L 104 × 68 blue maid, value, vulture Coat of arms, two Romanian soldiers
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a Wikipedia standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] 1922-1947 issue

The 5,000, 10,000, 100,000 (1946), 1,000,000, and 5,000,000 lei banknotes from the 1922 series had the left edge wavy.

1922-1947 Series
Image Value Dimensions Main Colour Description Date of printing and issue
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse Watermark
500 L 157 × 86 brown Romanian peasant women, the small coat of arms, value Peleş Castle continuous rows BNR 1922 - 1942
1,000 L 183 × 104 brown, green Romanian peasant women, value Romanian peasant women King Carol II 1928 - 1940
1,000 L 183 × 104 green, purple Romanian peasant women, value Romanian peasant women Nerva Traian 1940 - 1944
2,000 L 201 × 113 brown Romanian peasant women, value Romanian peasant women, the middle coat of arms, industrial landscape, Peleş Castle (in the background) Nerva Traian 1941
2,000 L 201 × 113 brown Romanian peasant women, value Romanian peasant women, the middle coat of arms, industrial landscape, Peleş Castle (in the background) continuous rows BNR 1943 - 1944
5,000 L 166 × 91 blue Decebal, Nerva Traian, the middle coat of arms, industrial, urban and rural landscape Nerva Traian 1943
5,000 L 166 × 91 blue Decebal, Nerva Traian, the middle coat of arms, industrial, urban and rural landscape continuous rows BNR 1945
10,000 L 194 × 107 brown, pink Romanian peasant women, the middle coat of arms, value Romanian peasant women, the middle coat of arms continuous rows BNR 1945 - 1946
100,000 L 187 × 90 blue, green Romanian peasant women, value Romanian peasant women, value continuous rows BNR 1946
100,000 L 182 × 88 pink, orange Decebal, Nerva Traian, value Romanian peasants, the middle coat of arms, value continuous rows BNR 1947
1,000,000 L 190 × 90 green, blue Decebal, Nerva Traian, value Romanian peasants, the middle coat of arms, value continuous rows BNR 1947
5,000,000 L yellow, brown Capitoline Wolf, value 1947
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a Wikipedia standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] Bankotes of the third leu (RON)

[edit] 1952 issue

1952 Series
Image Value Dimensions Main Colour Description Date of
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse printing issue
1 L 118 × 57 mm Brown, yellow Value Coat of arms 1952 26 January 1952
3 L 122 × 61 mm Dark brown, green Value Coat of arms
5 L 122 × 65 mm Dark blue, yellow Maid Dam construction scene
10 L 135 × 73 mm Red, green Miner Quarry scene
25 L 148 × 80 mm Dark brown, violet Tudor Vladimirescu Harvesting scene
100 L 168 × 90 mm Blue Nicolae Bălcescu Casa Scânteii
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a Wikipedia standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Source:

[edit] 1966 issue

1966 Series
Image Value Dimensions Main colour Description Date of
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse printing issue
1 L 103 × 52 mm Brown, yellow Coat of arms Value 1966 1 November 1966
3 L 114 × 57 mm Dark blue Coat of arms Value
5 L 124 × 62 mm Light brown Coat of arms Port
10 L 131 × 65 mm Violet Coat of arms Harvesting scene
25 L 140 × 70 mm Dark green Tudor Vladimirescu Factory
50 L 145 × 72 mm Green Alexandru Ioan Cuza Palace of Culture, Iaşi
100 L 153 × 75 mm Blue Nicolae Bălcescu Romanian Athenaeum
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a Wikipedia standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] 1991-1992 issue

1991 Series
Image Value Dimensions Main Colour Description Date of printing
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse
500 L 156 × 74 mm Brown Constantin Brâncuşi Constantin Brâncuşi January 1991
April 1991
1,000 L 167 × 76 mm Red, green Mihai Eminescu Putna Monastery September 1991
5,000 L 172 × 76 mm Violet Avram Iancu Densuş Church, Dacian Draco, Gate of Alba Iulia March 1992
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a Wikipedia standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] 1992-1994 issue

1992 Series
Image Value Dimensions Main Colour Description Date of printing
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse
200 L 155 × 76 mm Light brown Grigore Antipa Danube Delta December 1992
500 L 160 × 76 mm Green Constantin Brâncuşi Sculptures by Brâncuşi December 1992
1,000 L 167 × 76 mm Red, green Mihai Eminescu Putna Monastery May 1993
5,000 L 172 × 76 mm Violet Avram Iancu Densuş Church, Dacian Draco, Gate of Alba Iulia May 1993
10,000 L 180 × 76 mm Light red Nicolae Iorga Şuţu Palace February 1994
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a Wikipedia standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] 1996-2000 issue

1996 Series - paper
Image Value Dimensions Main Colour Description Date of
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse printing issue withdrawal lapse
1,000 L 140 × 61 mm Blue Mihai Eminescu Ruins of Histria, Linden tree flowers 1998 1 June 1998 17 December 2001 1 February 2002
5,000 L 145 × 64 mm Orange Lucian Blaga Crucifix 17 June 2002 1 October 2002
10,000 L 150 × 67 mm Green Nicolae Iorga, Milkweed gentian Cathedral of Curtea de Argeş 1999 15 July 1999 16 December 2002 1 July 2003
50,000 L 155 × 70 mm Violet George Enescu, Carnation The sphinx of Bucegi Mountains 1996
50,000 L 155 × 70 mm Violet George Enescu, Carnation The sphinx of Bucegi Mountains 2000 6 March 2000 1 March 2004 1 January 2005
100,000 L 160 × 73 mm Red Nicolae Grigorescu, Marshmallow traditional house from Oltenia 1998 1 June 1998
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a Wikipedia standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] 1999-2003 issue

1999 Series - polymer
Image Value Dimensions Main Colour Description Date of
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse printing issue withdrawal lapse
2,000 L 143 × 63 mm Blue, yellow, red Solar eclipse of 1999 August 11 Map of Romania 1999 2 August 1999 1 November 2004 1 April 2005
10,000 L 150 × 67 mm Green Nicolae Iorga, Milkweed gentian Cathedral of Curtea de Argeş 2000 18 September 2000 1 January 2007 Indefinite
50,000 L 155 × 70 mm Violet George Enescu, Carnation Romanian Athenaeum 2001 14 December 2001
100,000 L 160 × 73 mm Orange, light red Nicolae Grigorescu, Marshmallow traditional house from Oltenia 12 November 2001
500,000 L 165 × 76 mm Yellow Aurel Vlaicu, Edelweiss Vlaicu II airplane design 2000 23 October 2000
1,000,000 L 168 × 78 mm Blue Ion Luca Caragiale, Sweet violet National Theatre of Bucharest (old building) 2003 5 December 2003
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a Wikipedia standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

A 500 lei coin and the 2,000 lei note shown above wer made in order to celebrate the 1999 total solar eclipse. Whereas the 500 lei coin is currently very rare, becoming a prized collector's item, the 2,000 lei note was quite popular, being taken out of circulation in 2004 (a long time after the 1,000 and 5,000 lei bills were replaced by coins).

[edit] Banknotes of the fourth leu (RON)

The leu notes issued on 1 July 2005 are of equal size to euro banknotes, so that machines will need less refitting in case Romania decides to join the euro zone. This decision was taken after a lot of debate, and with some opposition, the initial decision being to make them even smaller, similar to the 1966 series. The old leu notes are rather long and fairly uncomfortable to carry.

The design of the notes follows some common guidelines: the obverse shows a flower native to Romania and the portrait of a Romanian cultural personality; the reverse shows a building or a well-known monument. All banknotes are printed on plastic polymer, each in its own colour theme (light green for 1 leu, light purple for 5 lei, light pink and light orange for 10 lei, yellow for 50 lei, blue for 100 lei, dark orange for 200 lei, and light gray for 500 lei).

Each banknote also features a small transparent window, in the shape of a distinctive item characterising the activity of the pictured personality, a heraldic symbol for Nicolae Iorga, a music key for George Enescu, painting implements for Nicolae Grigorescu, an eagle for flying pioneer Aurel Vlaicu, theater masks for Ion Luca Caragiale, a pen point for Lucian Blaga and an hourglass symbolising poetry and time for Mihai Eminescu. Each banknote has a different texture, to be easily recognised in the pocket or by those with visual impairments.

Note that the 200 and 500 lei banknotes see limited usage since they are not dispensed by ATM machines.

2005 Series
Image Value Dimensions Like which euro Main Colour Description Date of printing
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse
1 L 120 × 62 mm €5 Green Nicolae Iorga, Milkweed gentian Cathedral of Curtea de Argeş 1 July 2005
5 L 127 × 67 mm €10 Violet George Enescu, Carnation Romanian Athenaeum 1 July 2005
10 L 133 × 72 mm €20 Orange, light red Nicolae Grigorescu, Marshmallow Traditional house from Oltenia 1 July 2005
50 L 140 × 77 mm €50 Yellow Aurel Vlaicu, Edelweiss Vlaicu II airplane design 1 July 2005
100 L 147 × 82 mm €100 Blue Ion Luca Caragiale, Sweet violet National Theatre of Bucharest (old building) 1 July 2005
200 L 150 × 82 mm None Brown, orange Lucian Blaga, Poppy A watermill and the Hamangia Thinker 1 December 2006
500 L 153 × 82 mm €200 Blue, violet Mihai Eminescu, Tilia University of Iaşi Library 1 July 2005
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a Wikipedia standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] References

[edit] See also