Catalog
200 000 Karbovantsiv
| Issuer | National Bank of Ukraine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1994 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The principal vignette presents the façade of the National Opera House of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko in Kyiv, rendered in a classical engraved style with a guilloche underprint filling the background. A trident shield is positioned at right, with the numeral denomination repeated on both sides of the design. |
| Reverse lettering | 200000 200000 |
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| Comments |
Ukraine's hyperinflation in the early 1990s was severe enough that denominations climbed from single karbovantsi to hundreds of thousands within just a few years of independence. This 200,000 karbovantsiv note was among the highest values issued in the series before the entire currency was replaced by the hryvnia in September 1996 at a conversion rate of 100,000 karbovantsiv to one hryvnia — effectively erasing the nominal value of notes like this overnight.
The Canadian Bank Note Company contract was part of a broader pattern of newly independent post-Soviet states turning to Western security printers while domestic infrastructure remained unreliable. Ukraine had no established banknote printing capacity of its own at the time.