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5 Roubles Arktikugol
| Issuer | Arktikugol Trust |
|---|---|
| Year | 1951 |
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| Value | 5 Roubles |
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| Obverse description | Printed in blue-green on white paper, the obverse is divided into two zones: a left stub bearing a green guilloche rosette vignette and the year date '1951' below, and a main body framed by a double-rule border with guilloche cornerpieces. The denomination numeral '5' appears in large letterpress type within ornamental cartouches at left and right of the text block. The central field carries a multi-line Cyrillic typeset inscription identifying the USSR Ministry of Coal Industry, the Arktikugol State Trust, and the coupon's purpose, with the denomination spelled out in full and a serial number printed in red. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in light blue on white paper, the reverse is unlettered and relies entirely on typographic and ornamental elements. Two tall guilloche vignette panels, composed of intricate floral and star rosette motifs, flank the left and right edges, while a central ornamental cartouche carries the large numeral '5' in dark teal letterpress. The overall design is sparse and symmetrical, serving as a simple but distinctive bearer-token reverse. |
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| Comments |
Arktikugol — the Soviet coal mining trust that operated on Svalbard — issued its own scrip currency for use at the company settlement of Barentsburg, a necessity under the 1920 Svalbard Treaty, which granted Norway sovereignty over the archipelago while allowing Soviet nationals to conduct commercial activity there. Ordinary Soviet roubles had no legal footing on Norwegian-administered territory, so the trust ran its own closed monetary system entirely independent of Gosbank.
The 1951 series replaced an earlier set of Arktikugol notes and remained in use through multiple decades of mining operations. Circulation was tightly controlled within the settlement — scrip couldn't leave Barentsburg in any meaningful sense, which means surviving examples generally show light use.