20 Kopecks Altai

Altai Guberniya was a short-lived administrative unit in southwestern Siberia that survived only a few years before Soviet territorial reorganization absorbed it entirely. By 1923, the Soviet monetary system was mid-collapse — hyperinflation had rendered Sovznaki nearly worthless, and the new chervonets-backed currency introduced under the NEP had not yet reached provincial treasuries in any meaningful quantity. Local authorities across Siberia filled the gap with improvised scrip, and the Altai treasury was no exception.

The handstamp security feature is characteristic of these provincial emissions: authentication applied locally rather than at any central printing facility, which makes forgeries and genuine examples difficult to distinguish without reference specimens.