200 Roubles Armavir

Armavir, a trading town in the Kuban region, briefly hosted a branch of the State Bank during the chaotic interregnum of 1918, when central authority had effectively ceased to exist across much of the northern Caucasus. Dozens of local institutions — city councils, cooperative banks, military commands — began printing their own obligations that year, and the Armavir branch was among them. The result was a patchwork of competing local currencies that circulated simultaneously, often at wildly different effective rates depending on who controlled the nearest checkpoint.

The "I" suffix in the Pick reference denotes a specific typographical or paper variant within the 200-rouble Armavir series — collectors should verify the precise distinguishing features against a current Specialized catalog, as the variant attributions for Kuban regional issues have been revised more than once.