When Latvia became independent of Russia in 1918 she quickly issued notes denominated in Rubles, these would be used until the early 1920's when Latvia stabilized it's economy enough to establish a unique currency. Subsequently the Lats was introduced, and the notes were printed by Bradbury Wilkinson in London. Latvia wanted to print it's own currency, and this note is purely the work of Latvian engraving and printing, and represented the first banknote with security features printed in that country. This note was issued in 1939, and is emblematic of Latvia watching over her countrymen, in this case a young farm couple. This note only saw a short term of circulation before Latvia was forcibly occupied by the socialist horde from the USSR in 1940. When Germany invaded the USSR these notes were again circulated, sometimes with an overprinted stamp to validate them. They would continue to circulate until the USSR forces re-occupied the country in 1944-45. This note is P-22.
When Latvia regained her independence in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR, she again introduced Ruble denominated notes into circulation, but these were rapidly replaced with Lats denominated notes which have a high value, their value being fixed at 3 Deutschmarks. Soon Latvia will adopt the Euro, and again the Lats will be history.
