Catalog
100 Roubles
| Issuer | Republic of Armenia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 100 Roubles |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Green and ochre note with elaborate guilloche borders framing a central vignette of Mount Ararat rendered in fine intaglio engraving. The denomination "100" appears in large numerals at left and right, with the title "REPUBLIQUE ARMENIENNE / 100 ROUBLES 100" in Latin script, the Armenian legend ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆԻ ՀԱՆՐԱՊԵՏՈՒԹԻՒՆ at the top, and the Russian legend РЕСПУБЛИКА АРМЕНИИ / СТО РУБЛЕЙ below the mountain scene. Two stylized bird motifs flank the upper corners above decorative panels containing Armenian text, and two facsimile signatures appear across the lower central area above the serial number. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Star pattern |
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| Comments |
Armenia's declaration of independence in 1918 left the new republic scrambling to establish a functional monetary system while simultaneously fighting wars on multiple fronts — against Azerbaijani forces, Ottoman remnants, and eventually the Red Army. The 1919 rouble series, printed by Waterlow & Sons in London, was ordered abroad because Armenia had no domestic printing capacity whatsoever. Notes reached Yerevan under difficult conditions, and the window of actual circulation was brutally short.
The Armenian Soviet takeover in late 1920 rendered the entire Republican rouble series obsolete almost immediately. Waterlow had also printed banknotes for Georgia and Azerbaijan during the same period, working through a succession of newly independent Caucasian clients with equally uncertain futures.