100 Roubles - Foreign Exchange Certificate

Vneshtorgbank's Foreign Exchange Certificates were not general-circulation currency. They were issued specifically to Soviet citizens and foreign nationals who had access to hard currency — diplomats, sailors on international routes, technical specialists working abroad — and could only be spent at Beryozka ("birch tree") shops, a closed retail network selling imported goods unavailable through any ordinary Soviet commercial channel. The certificates functioned as a rationing mechanism as much as a monetary one, ring-fencing foreign exchange earnings from the broader ruble economy.

Two distinct series exist for this period: one with a yellow stripe, one without. The stripe denotes notes issued to Soviet citizens returning from abroad, while the unstriped version was for foreign visitors converting hard currency at official rates. Mixing them up in a collection is common and easy to do.