Catalog
1 Rouble Latvia, Libava, Libau
| Issuer | City Government of Libava (Либавское Городское Самоуправление) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse lettering | Либавское Городское Самоуправление ОБЯЗУЕТСЯ ОПЛАТИТЬ НАСТОЯЩУЮ ДОЛГОВУЮ РАСПИСКУ НЕМЕДЛЕННО ПОСЛЕ ОКОНЧАНIИ ВОЙНЫ 1 Руб. ПОДДЪЛКА КАРАЕТСЯ ПО УГОЛОВНЫМЪ ЗАКОНАМЪ. 1 Rbl. (Translation: Libava City Government. [The government is] obliged to pay the debt banknote immediately after the end of the war. 1 Rub. Forgery is punished under criminal law.) |
| Reverse description | Reverse is largely plain paper with a faint blue underprint ghosting through from the obverse design, with two circular cancellation punch-holes visible at centre left and centre right, indicating the note has been officially cancelled. |
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| Comments |
Libava — today's Liepāja — issued emergency municipal currency in 1915 as the Russian Imperial government's supply of small coinage collapsed under wartime conditions. The Libau series was one of dozens of such notgeld-type instruments that appeared across the Baltic provinces that year, but Libava's civic administration moved early, and these notes circulated alongside Russian Imperial rubles in a port city that was simultaneously being prepared for German assault.
The city fell to German forces in May 1915. Notes issued that spring had a circulation window measured in weeks.