5.000 Tengas / Ten'gov

The Bukhara Emirate's paper currency of 1918 was a desperation measure. The Emir's treasury had functioned for centuries on metallic coinage — the tanga in silver and copper — and paper money carried no cultural legitimacy in the region. These notes were produced locally under severe material constraints, which shows in the printing quality: ink registration is frequently poor across the series, and paper stock varied between print runs.

The emirate itself was dissolved by Bolshevik forces in September 1920, less than two years after this issue. Most of the paper currency became worthless almost immediately, yet survival rates are surprisingly uneven — some denominations are common, others nearly impossible to locate.