3 Chervontsa

The chervonets was introduced in 1922 as the hard-currency anchor of the New Economic Policy — pegged to gold at 7.74 grams of pure gold per unit, matching the pre-revolutionary 10-ruble imperial coin. This 3-chervontsa denomination is unusual in the series; the 1 and 10 chervontsa notes did most of the practical work, and the 3-unit value was issued in comparatively smaller quantities, making survivors proportionally scarcer than the surrounding denominations suggest.

The early Gosbank chervontsy circulated alongside the collapsing sovznak ruble simultaneously — two currencies, two price systems — until the monetary reform of 1924 formally retired the sovznak and unified the system.