Catalog
20 Shahiv
| Issuer | Ukrainian People's Republic |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| 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 | A bust-length vignette of a Ukrainian peasant in profile faces right at centre, wearing a hat adorned with wheat sheaves and holding a sickle; the Ukrainian trident arms appear to the left of the figure within an oval guilloche frame. The issuer's name in Cyrillic lettering occupies the upper portion, while the denomination numerals '20' flank the word 'ШАГІВ' along the lower margin. The note, printed in brown on thin card stock with perforated edges in the manner of a postage stamp, is devoid of any serial numbering. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Ходить нарівні з дзвінкою монетою. (Translation: Used along with the ringing coin.) |
| 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 |
The Ukrainian People's Republic's small-denomination cardboard issues of 1918 were essentially emergency fractional currency, produced as the new government struggled to establish functioning monetary infrastructure amid simultaneous war with Soviet Russia and occupation pressures from the Central Powers. The 20 shahiv was part of a series of postage-stamp-sized cardboard pieces intended to fill the void left by the collapse of imperial Russian coinage, which had effectively disappeared from circulation years earlier due to wartime hoarding.
The cardboard substrate was a deliberate compromise — proper banknote paper was neither reliably available nor easily secured for a government that had existed for only months.