Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Roubles 1983 Traveller's Cheque
| Issuer | Bank for Foreign Trade of the USSR (Vneshtorgbank) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1983 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Paper (watermarked) |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is dominated by a central guilloche rosette of elaborate lathe-work in deep crimson, flanked on each side by a circular БВТ (BVT) monogram vignette. The entire field is covered by a repetitive underprint of alternating Cyrillic and Latin bank name legends in diagonal rows. |
| Reverse lettering | СССР · BANK FOR FOREIGN TRADE OF THE USSR · USSR · БАНК ДЛЯ ВНЕШНЕЙ ТОРГОВЛИ СССР · BANK |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Vneshtorgbank traveller's cheques occupied a peculiar niche in the Soviet hard-currency system. Denominated in roubles but functionally restricted to Intourist hotels, Beryozka foreign-currency shops, and other facilities that sat outside the ordinary domestic economy, they were instruments of controlled access as much as payment. Soviet citizens could not freely acquire them; foreign visitors could, as an alternative to carrying cash through customs.
The 1983 series changed little from earlier issues — Vneshtorgbank's cheque designs evolved slowly across decades. Surviving unencashed examples turn up occasionally in Western collections, brought home as curiosities by tourists who never spent them.