Catalog
1 Silver Rouble
| Issuer | Bank Polski (Bank of Poland) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1855 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in green on plain cream paper. A large central panel with an ornate cartouche border contains an oval medallion with the numeral '1' on either side and a trilingual text block at centre. The Cyrillic denomination inscription appears in large letters across the top of the note, and the Polish denomination is printed in large spaced capitals along the bottom. |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
Bank Polski occupied a peculiar constitutional position — it was nominally a Polish institution but operated under tight Russian imperial supervision following the failed November Uprising of 1830, which stripped Poland of its remaining financial autonomy. By 1855, silver rouble denominations had replaced earlier zloty-denominated issues as St. Petersburg imposed monetary integration on the Kingdom of Poland, a process completed by fiat rather than economic logic.
The 1 rouble denomination circulated heavily among ordinary transactions and survives in worn condition far more often than in anything approaching original state. Low-denomination notes of this series took punishment.