3 Kopeks Arktikugol

Arktikugol — literally "Arctic Coal" — was a Soviet state trust established to mine coal on Svalbard, exploiting the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty's provision allowing Soviet nationals to operate commercially on Norwegian-administered territory. The trust issued its own scrip for use at Barentsburg and, at various points, Grumant and Pyramiden, keeping workers' wages from bleeding into Norwegian krone circulation. This 1957 three-kopek piece belongs to the postwar scrip series issued after Stalin's death, during a period when the trust was rebuilding its workforce following severe wartime disruption.

The scrip had no validity outside the settlement stores, which was precisely the point.