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5 Kopecks Foreign Exchange Certificate
| Issuer | Gosbank USSR |
|---|---|
| Year | 1961 |
| Type | Exchange certificates |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Plain pink-tinted note with guilloche border frame at right enclosing the denomination numeral '5' and Cyrillic inscription КОПЕЕК. Central text block in Cyrillic announces payment of five kopecks by Gosbank USSR, below which two manuscript signatures appear above a small-print usage notice. Letterpress-printed throughout on unadorned pale stock. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse is printed on plain pale cream stock with no distinct vignette or ornamental elements; faint letterpress impressions from the obverse text are visible through the thin paper, giving a ghost-image effect across the entire surface. |
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| Comments |
Vneshtorgbank's foreign exchange certificates — of which Gosbank was the formal issuer — were introduced in 1961 to soak up hard currency brought in by foreign visitors and Soviet citizens with access to foreign earnings, channeling it back to the state while keeping convertible money out of the black market. The 5 kopeck denomination is the lowest in the series, used primarily as change within the Beryozka hard-currency shops that were closed to ordinary Soviet citizens.
Two distinct series exist: the earlier "yellow label" certificates (Series I) and the later "blue label" (Series II), issued from 1966 onward for different categories of hard currency. Mixing them up in a catalog is a persistent error worth avoiding.