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The Romanian leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani, a word that means 'money' in Romanian. Banknotes were first issued in 1877. The country left the gold standard in 1914, and the leu's value fell. This 10-bani Romanian banknote is an example of a "paper coin", very small banknotes issued in denominations of 10, 25 and 50 bani by the Ministry of Finance in 1917 during World War I. It depicts King Ferdinand I on the obverse and the Romanian coat of arms on the reverse, and now forms part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.
Other denominations: Banknote design credit: Ministry of Finance, Kingdom of Romania; photographed by Andrew Shiva
Other denominations: Banknote design credit: Ministry of Finance, Kingdom of Romania; photographed by Andrew Shiva