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3 Roubles Arktikugol
| Issuer | Arktikugol Trust |
|---|---|
| Year | 1946 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 132 × 73 mm |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in light green, the reverse is dominated by a large central guilloche medallion composed of intricate lathe-work patterns forming a symmetrical oval design. The numeral '3' appears in a larger typeface to the left and right of the central vignette, serving as the sole denomination indicators on this side. The overall design is simple and functional, consistent with the utilitarian nature of these trade vouchers. |
| Reverse lettering | 3 |
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| Comments |
Arktikugol — the Soviet coal-mining trust operating on Svalbard — issued its own scrip currency for use at the company store in Barentsburg, the main Soviet settlement on the archipelago. Norway's sovereignty over Svalbard, established by the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty, barred the USSR from using Soviet rubles there as legal tender in any official sense, which is the precise reason this parallel system existed at all. The trust scrip circulated only within the closed Soviet community on the island, redeemable solely at company-controlled facilities.
The 1946 series replaced wartime-era issues. Svalbard had been evacuated and heavily damaged during the German occupation, and Barentsburg required substantial reconstruction before normal mining operations — and the scrip economy that ran alongside them — could resume.