Catalog
20 Roubles
| Issuer | Republic of Belarus |
|---|---|
| Year | 1991 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Blue consumer ration card (Картка Спажыўца) printed on a light blue guilloche underprint, divided into a sheet of twelve perforated coupons of varying denominations (1 and 5 roubles each), surrounding a central panel bearing the issuing authority text and total value of 20 roubles. The central panel includes blank lines for the holder's surname, issuing authority, administrator, and chief accountant, and is impressed with a circular official stamp. A warning inscription at the foot reads that counterfeiting is prosecuted by law. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Reverse is blank, showing only the plain paper surface with faint impression of the obverse design visible in areas of heavier ink coverage. |
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| Comments |
Belarus issued its first independent currency series in 1991, but these roubles were never intended as a permanent solution — they were transitional notes, introduced primarily to address a severe coin shortage rather than to replace the Soviet rouble outright. The Belarusian rouble initially circulated alongside Soviet currency, and the low denominations of this series were specifically aimed at filling the gap left by disappearing kopek coins in everyday transactions.
The P#A1 designation reflects cataloging uncertainty about whether these first-issue notes belong to the main sequence at all. Pick assigned them a provisional prefix rather than a clean sequential number.