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10 Roubles Arktikugol
| Issuer | Arktikugol Trust |
|---|---|
| Year | 1946 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 132 × 73 mm |
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| Obverse description | Printed in black on cream paper, the obverse carries multiple lines of Cyrillic text identifying the issuing authority — the USSR Ministry of Coal Industry and the Arktikugol State Trust — above the large bold denomination numeral '10' set within a circular guilloche underprint at left. The coupon number is printed in red at centre-right, with the denomination in words 'ДЕСЯТЬ РУБЛЕЙ' and the year '1946' printed below the text block in bold letterpress. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 10 |
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| Comments |
Arktikugol — the Soviet coal-mining trust operating on Svalbard under the terms of the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty — issued its own scrip currency for use at Barentsburg and Pyramiden because Norwegian law governed the archipelago while Soviet enterprises operated within it. Ordinary Soviet roubles had no legal standing there, and using Norwegian krone would have implied a commercial integration the USSR had no interest in acknowledging. The scrip was the practical solution to a genuinely awkward jurisdictional problem.
The 1946 series followed the end of wartime German occupation of Svalbard, during which mining operations had been suspended entirely. Restarting the settlements meant reestablishing a closed internal economy from scratch.