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10 Kopeks Arctic Coal
| Issuer | Arktikugol (Arctic Coal Trust) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1946 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
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| Currency | Rouble (1924-1958) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse displays the large numeral '10' prominently in the central field, executed in bold block numerals with wide strokes typical of Soviet industrial token design. The issuer's name АРКТИКУГОЛЬ (Arktikugol) curves along the upper periphery in bold Cyrillic capitals. Below the central numeral, the denomination КОПЕЕК (Kopeks) is inscribed in a straight horizontal legend across the lower field. The design is plain and functional, with no additional ornamental elements, reflecting the token's purely utilitarian purpose as a company scrip currency for Soviet coal mining workers on Spitsbergen. |
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| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
Arktikugol, the Soviet state trust controlling coal extraction on Svalbard, issued these tokens for use at the company store in Barentsburg — the USSR's mining settlement on the Norwegian archipelago. Soviet workers there were paid partly in this scrip, which could not be spent outside the settlement and therefore prevented hard currency from bleeding into the Norwegian economy. The arrangement also neatly sidestepped Svalbard's peculiar legal status under the 1920 Paris Treaty, which prohibits military presence but permits commercial activity by signatory nationals.
The series was reissued across several decades with little change to the design, making precise dating of individual pieces difficult without corroborating documentation.