Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
500 Tengas Treasury
| Issuer | Emirate of Bukhara |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 | The obverse is dominated by a dense zigzag guilloche underprint in green and blue, upon which several cartouches and rectangular panels bearing Arabic script are arranged. Two seal impressions appear at left and right of centre, with the denomination repeated in Arabic numerals at lower left and lower right. A central pink-tinted oval cartouche contains the principal text inscription, with two further rectangular boxes in black flanking it below. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in red-orange and green on white paper, with a broad ornamental border of repeated geometric units framing the entire design. A large central green guilloche panel contains two nested cartouches with Arabic script inscriptions, surrounded by four corner medallions each bearing the value numeral. Additional Arabic legends and the denomination appear within subsidiary panels above and below the main vignette. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Emirate of Bukhara's paper currency had a short and violent lifespan. Emir Alim Khan began issuing tengas notes under extreme duress — the Bolshevik Red Army had already taken Tashkent, and Bukhara itself fell in September 1920 after a three-day assault that ended two centuries of Manghit dynasty rule. Notes issued that year were circulating, if they circulated at all, in a city under siege and then under occupation.
The 1920 issues are among the last acts of a collapsing state. Survivorship is erratic — some denominations were largely destroyed, others turned up in significant quantities decades later from single collections.