Catalog
25 Roubles
| Issuer | Assignation Bank (Ассигнационный банк) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1769-1773 |
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| Size | 250 × 190 mm |
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| Obverse description | Plain white paper field enclosed within a decorative typeset border of repeated ornamental units. The serial number appears at top centre above the denomination numeral, followed by the main text block in Cyrillic letterpress stating the obligation of the Moscow Assignation Bank to pay the bearer twenty-five roubles in coin, dated 1769, Saint Petersburg. Multiple manuscript authorisation signatures appear in the lower portion of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ОБЪЯВИТЕЛЮ СЕЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЙ АССИГНАЦИИ ПЛАТИТЬ МОСКОВСКОЙ БАНКЕ ДВАЦАТЬ ПЯТЬ РУБЛЕЙ ХОДЯЧЕЮ МОНЕТОЮ. 1769 ГОДА. САНКТПЕТЕРБУРГЪ |
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| Comments |
Russia's first paper currency, issued by Catherine II's newly established Assignation Bank in 1769. The notes were conceived partly as a fiscal convenience — moving silver across the empire's vast distances was genuinely costly and dangerous — but also as a way to fund the ongoing war with the Ottoman Empire without openly debasing the coinage.
Early issues are notorious for a crude but consequential vulnerability: forgers simply altered the denomination numeral in ink, since the text was largely handwritten or lightly printed. The government was forced to redesign the series within a few years precisely because of this problem.