bavarikon4UPaper money in Estonia
Estonia’s history has been marked by changing foreign rule since 1219. Estonia was under the rule of the Russian Empire between 1710 and 1918. The Republic of Estonia was established with its independence in 1918.
Until independence, the Russian Empire’s paper money was in circulation and therefore the rouble as currency. In the First World War, during the occupation by the German Reich, there were also Ostbank banknotes for trade and commerce. Estonia’s first own paper money was issued by the state. In exchange, sovereign debt obligations were declared legal tender. This was later followed by the issuance of treasury notes by the Ministry of Finance. The currency was the Estonian mark, which was replaced by the Estonian kroon in 1928.
A national bank, Eesti Pank, had already been founded in 1919, and its issuing activities began a little later in 1921. The banknotes circulated parallel to the government notes. Once the currency changed in 1928, only the National Bank’s banknotes were in circulation. Eesti Pank issued banknotes in Estonia until 1940. Its activities ended with the occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Union. It was transformed into a state bank of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. There were no banknote issues of their own; the Soviet Union’s banknotes and the rouble currency were used as means of payment.
>> This collection is part of the holdings of "Paper money in Europe" of the Giesecke+Devrient Stiftung Geldscheinsammlung (Giesecke+Devrient foundation: collections of bank notes).