1 Rouble

The 1923 RSFSR rouble issues from Narkomfin occupy an awkward transitional position in Soviet monetary history. By the time this note was printed, the RSFSR's own currency apparatus was already being absorbed into the broader USSR framework — the union was formally declared in December 1922, meaning these notes were issued by a political entity in the process of being superseded. The parallel issuance of the gold-backed chervonets by Gosbank from late 1922 onward made small-denomination sovznaki like this one functionally disposable: instruments of a hyperinflationary regime the new Soviet authorities were actively trying to escape.

Sovznaki of this period circulated in conditions of extreme monetary instability, with denominations redenominated repeatedly. The 1923 series represented one such rescaling, at 1:100 against the previous emission.