Catalog
5 Roubles Alaska
| Issuer | Russian-American Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1815-1862 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Roubles |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse of this walrus skin parchment note is plain and unprinted, showing only the natural texture and surface of the parchment substrate, which served as the primary anti-counterfeiting characteristic of these colonial issues. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Printed on walrus skin parchment, a highly distinctive and difficult-to-replicate natural material that served as the primary security feature for these colonial scrip notes issued in Russian America. |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Russian-American Company's walrus hide notes are among the most materially unusual monetary instruments ever produced in North America. Issued by a chartered trading monopoly — not a state bank — to pay workers and fur traders at remote Alaskan outposts where coined metal was chronically scarce, these notes circulated in a closed economy with no practical exit for most holders.
The substrate itself was a pragmatic response to a genuine supply problem: paper could not reliably reach Sitka. The hide resisted moisture and rough handling in ways that imported paper could not. The security feature was essentially the material — counterfeiting walrus parchment in the field was not a realistic proposition.
The Company lost its monopoly charter in 1862, the same year these notes ceased. Redemption for surviving holders was neither guaranteed nor swift.