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3 Roubles Odessa
| Issuer | City of Odessa (Разменный Билет Города Одессы) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in green on a fine guilloche underprint, with the numeral 3 repeated in each corner within ornate rosette frames. Two horizontal dark banderoles at top and bottom carry the counterfeiting warning legend. The central field is filled with a lengthy Cyrillic text block listing the Odessa branch of the State Bank and numerous commercial and mutual credit institutions of the city that accepted the notes, together with redemption conditions. |
| Reverse lettering | ПОДДЕЛКА ПРЕСЛЕДУЕТСЯ ЗАКОНОМЪ |
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| Comments |
The Разменный Билет Города Одессы — literally "change notes of the city of Odessa" — emerged because the collapse of the Imperial monetary system in 1917 produced a catastrophic shortage of small-denomination coin. Odessa was hardly unique in this; dozens of Russian cities, zemstvos, and cooperatives issued their own scrip that year for identical reasons. What distinguishes the Odessa municipal series is that it carried genuine municipal backing and saw real street-level circulation in one of the most commercially active ports on the Black Sea.
The 1917 political chaos — two revolutions, shifting administrations, and approaching civil war — meant these notes circulated under at least three successive governing authorities before being rendered obsolete.